Identifying the ethics of emerging information and communication technologies: An essay on issues, concepts and method

Bernd Carsten Stahl*, Richard Heersmink, Philippe Goujon, Catherine Flick, Jeroen Van Den Hoven, Kutoma J. Wakunuma, Veikko Ikonen, Michael Rader

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ethical issues of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are important because they can have significant effects on human liberty, happiness, and people's ability to lead a good life. They are also of functional interest because they can determine whether technologies are used and whether their positive potential can unfold. For these reasons, policy makers are interested in finding out what these issues are and how they can be addressed. The best way of creating ICT policy that is sensitive to ethical issues pertain to being proactive in addressing such issues at an early stage of the technology life cycle. The present paper uses this position as a starting point and discusses how knowledge of ethical aspects of emerging ICTs can be gained. It develops a methodology that goes beyond established futures methodologies to cater for the difficult nature of ethical issues. The authors outline how the description of emerging ICTs can be used for an ethical analysis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20-38
Number of pages19
JournalInternational Journal of Technoethics
Volume1
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2010
Externally publishedYes

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