The internet: a framework for understanding ethical issues.

The impact and influence of the Internet as a communications medium cannot be overstated. It has had a profound effect on economic, political, and other social infrastructures, and has introduced ways of communicating which have transformed social relationships. The Internet has opened up information exchange on a global scale, offering enormous opportunities and advantages to an hitherto unknown degree. The Internet has also raised a number of serious, and urgent, ethical challenges. The discussions and debate surrounding ethical issues such as trust, security and privacy, amongst others, conducted at all levels (international, government, academia and the popular press) in themselves are evidence of the complexity of the problem of Internet ethics. The research unravels some of the complexity and muddle of Internet ethics, with the objective of providing a foundation for further research. This thesis offers four perspectives on the problems of Internet ethics: technical, conceptual, regulatory and ethical. These different viewpoints are not only useful in drawing out insights concerning the ethical framework of the Internet, they also provide leverage for the analysis of pertinent issues. The work in this thesis thus offers a framework for understanding, and analysis, which can be developed and used in continuing investigations. The research is a combination of theory and practice - both informing each other. The approach taken arose from the author's direct involvement in many of the expert discussions and debates which (together with the literature), identified a need for foundational work. In-depth work with a number of specialised groups has provided the practical backdrop, and grounding to this research - published results appear as Appendices

The information society: what next?

Addressing the issues of governance, ethics and social consequences in today’s Information Society is a monumental task. The authors who have contributed to this publication have risen to the challenge and produced papers that offer a variety of perspectives reflecting their different disciplines. This Chapter attempts to give an overview of the theme of the conference and the work contained within this book by drawing out the potential for influencing policy and the development and deployment of future technologies. It does this by using a stakeholder categorisation in terms of: international, governmental, organisational, educational and individual. Professionals and professional bodies have a major role in promoting awareness, and the ways in which they can do this are discussed. Finally, following the original conference programme, the steps that can be taken by Working Group 9.2 within IFIP together with the recommendations made at the end of the conference are briefly summarised

eHealth and ethics: theory, teaching, and practice.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is increasing rapidly in many spheres of contemporary life in Europe. The ethical use of ICT in all areas of its application is of growing importance. This is especially evident in the field of healthcare. The regional, national, and Europe-wide electronic aspects of health services and systems are related fundamentally to these two developments. This chapter explores the relevance of ethics to eHealth generally. It outlines two main contrasting ideas that have influenced ethical thought: Kantian ethics and consequentialism. It investigates the ways in which teaching and practice for ICT professionals and trainees can be enhanced and extended to increase the awareness of ethical issues in eHealth. It takes as examples two technological applications that are in increasing use in the eHealth field: electronic health records and radio frequency identification devices. The chapter ends with a brief discussion and conclusions about how this ethical awareness can be expanded beyond ICT professionals to other stakeholder groups, and to other eHealth technologies or applications

Pursuing perspectives on ambient intelligence.

This paper takes a broad perspective on ambient, intelligent technologies in the context of contemporary European society at the turn of the 21st century. The underlying ideas and expectations of ambient intelligence in a period when Europe focuses progressively on the various social, economic, and ethical challenges facing the Information Society are discussed. The use of information and communication technologies in different organizational and economic settings are explored, with an illustrative focus on eHealth. It is particularly argued that more space, effort and facilities need to be created for a public social and ethical debate among European‟s citizens with regard to information and communication technologies development

Applied ethics and eHealth: principles, identity, and RFID.

The social and ethical implications of contemporary technologies are becoming an issue of steadily growing importance. This paper offers an overview in terms of identity and the field of ethics, and explores how these apply to eHealth in both theory and practice. The paper selects a specific circumstance in which these ethical issues can be explored. It focuses particularly on radio-frequency identifiers (RFID). It ends by discussing ethical issues more generally, and the practice of ethical consideration

Animating the Ethical Demand:Exploring user dispositions in industry innovation cases through animation-based sketching

This paper addresses the challenge of attaining ethical user stances during the design process of products and services and proposes animation-based sketching as a design method, which supports elaborating and examining different ethical stances towards the user. The discussion is qualified by an empirical study of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in a Triple Helix constellation. Using a three-week long innovation workshop, UCrAc, involving 16 Danish companies and organisations and 142 students as empirical data, we discuss how animation-based sketching can explore not yet existing user dispositions, as well as create an incentive for ethical conduct in development and innovation processes. The ethical fulcrum evolves around Løgstrup's Ethical Demand and his notion of spontaneous life manifestations. From this, three ethical stances are developed; apathy, sympathy and empathy. By exploring both apathetic and sympathetic views, the ethical reflections are more nuanced as a result of actually seeing the user experience simulated through different user dispositions. Exploring the three ethical stances by visualising real use cases with the technologies simulated as already being implemented makes the life manifestations of the users in context visible. We present and discuss how animation-based sketching can support the elaboration and examination of different ethical stances towards the user in the product and service development process. Finally we present a framework for creating narrative representations of emerging technology use cases, which invite to reflection upon the ethics of the user experience.</jats:p