Creating an 'Ethical Space' for Information Ethics: The Role of Communication Rights

Abstract

In their article, In search of a code of global information ethics, Rafael Capurro and Johannes Britz speak of the need for an “ethical space” as an “open space of reflection” about the visions and options in the digital age, against the background of the influence of information and communication technologies on local cultures within a globalizing world. This paper develops this insight against the background of the discussion within the ecumenical arena in such organizations as the World Council of Churches on the development of an “ecumenical space” for open discussion to help develop an alternative to increasingly worldwide structures of communication, finance and the economy. In such a perspective, civil society is seen as an indispensable part of the “ethical space” within which a global ethic needs to be elaborated, alongside the institutional political system of government and the institutionally orientated political society. This paper will explore how the idea of communication rights encourages civil society to play a constitutive role in advancing such a communication ethic, by becoming active in claiming and reclaiming spaces of debate and dialogue to engage in transparent, informed and democratic debate. At the same time, churches and religious organizations, as belonging to worldwide communities, are themselves challenged by such a perspective to not claim for themselves absolute and universal authority, but rather to engage in dialogue with each other and with the secular public sphere.