Ethics and ICT

Abstract

This article focuses on the ethical perspective of information and communication technologies (ICT), which is termed as computer and information ethics. This article gives a brief look at the roots of computer and information ethics and then follows an overview of the many definitions of computer and information ethics where the aim is to illustrate the breadth of this multidisciplinary field. It then turns to application and considers two distinct issues about embedding an ethical perspective into information systems development and the second is to consider the nature of ICT professionalism within the Information Society. A series of Information Society challenges are then considered in turn. These include privacy, property, culture, and crime. The final substantive section looks at the future, paying particular attention to ICT continually increasing in global interaction within a dispersed community and between different and geographically distant communities.