Chapter: Applying Ethical and Moral Concepts and Theories to IT Contexts: Some Key Problems and Challenges

Quote:

In the wake of the Enlightenment the emphasis in ethical theory has been for a long time on systems and rules. Almost invariably, these rules were derived from some supposed “ethically perfect world.” But ideal rules may workout very differently in (non-ideal) practice. That is, it may be the case that such a rule will give rise to gliding scales, e.g., “ethical” and “unethical” cases ate so hard to separate by observable criteria that it is better to forbid some cases that such a rule will give rise to gliding scales.

What I expect to learn:

To untangle terminological confusion of computer ethics

Review:

Stating a single problem being faced today in terms of computer ethics is impossible because new ones sprout out of nowhere everyday which makes it hard for one to focus on the existing or to move on to another problem.

The real problem here is determining the problems that the IT industry is now and will face. How? That I am not really sure of because come to think of it, it is something we can’t fully predict but that alone is a problem. You know what I think the industry should do? They should just let it come to them. It is like the movie I recently watched, “Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans”, where in they waited for Lucian to get back to them, not them looking for him because like the old saying goes, “It is hard to find someone who does not want to be found”. Let us just think of the movie and connect that to how the IT industry should handle such problem. We have no idea what will happen tomorrow so why try right? We try because we want to be prepared and we want it to be aware that we know what will happen. Some kind of threat that is! Anyway, the IT industry should just focus on what is happening now and fix what had already happened because that way, they can place themselves in a place where both them and the users can benefit from because it is a two way street and if it is not, then no one will even consider thinking about having a computer and connecting online because they will be afraid of what might be gotten out from them.

What I learned:

·         Untangling terminological confusion: the demarcation of “computer ethics”

·         Connecting ethics and social context

·         Computer ethics and role of experts

Integrative Questions:

1.    What is untangling terminological confusion?

2.    What do you mean by demarcation of “computer ethics”?

3.    Give ways on how to connect ethics and social context.

4.    Enumerate reasons to distinguish ethics in narrow sense.

5.    What are the role of experts?