Computer Ethics

These essays focus on the study of the ethical issues related to computer use. Grouped into sections, the essays cover all the important issues ranging from the history and nature of computer ethics, cyberspace, values and technology, and responsibility and professionalism, to privacy and surveillance, what computers should not do, and morality and machines.

The study of the ethical issues related to computer use developed primarily in the 1980s, although a number of important papers were published in previous decades, many of which are contained in this volume. Computer ethics, as the field became known, flourished in the following decades. The emphasis initially was more on the computing profession: on questions related to the development of systems, the behaviour of computing professionals and so on. Later the focus moved to the Internet and to users of computer and related communication technologies. This book reflects these different emphases and has articles on most of the important issues, organised into sections on the history and nature of computer ethics, cyberspace, values and technology, responsibility and professionalism, privacy and surveillance, what computers should not do and morality and machines.