New technology, old issues: Demonstrating the relevance of the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists to the ever-sharper cutting edge of technology.

Abstract

New technology brings with it new opportunities for the practice of our profession. However, this technology is also a double-edged sword in that it can also cause problems for our profession and those we serve. The Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists (3rd edition) provides a foundation for approaching the that can arise in its use. It is argued that psychologists need not wait for specific rules and guidelines regarding the ethical use of new technologies; rather, psychologists can utilize the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists immediately to address many of the involved. There is a wide range of areas in which ethical can arise. The focus in this paper is on three specific examples (online personal information accessibility, web-based advertising, and electronic data storage). These examples illustrate both the ethical involved and demonstrate the potential for how the Code can be used to think through and manage or resolve the issues. After a discussion of the three examples, the ongoing relevance of the Code to meeting the ethical challenges of continuously evolving technologies is discussed. Keywords: advertising, electronic data storage, ethics, internet, social networks Resume La nouvelle technologie cree de nouvelles occasions dans l'exercice de la psychologie. Toutefois, ces occasions peuvent etre a double tranchant et susciter des difficultes aux psychologues et a leurs clients. Le Code canathen de deontologie professionnelle des psychologues (3e edition) constitue un outil pour traiter les situations problematiques qui peuvent survenir. Il est argue que les psychologues n'ont pas besoin d'attendre l'etablissement de regles et de lignes directrices precises au sujet de l'usage ethique des nouvelles technologies. En effet, ils peuvent se servir du Code canathen de deontologie de leur profession pour resoudre nombre des questions qui surviennent. Nombreux sont les domaines ou peuvent surgir des questions ethiques. Le present article porte sur trois exemples precis : l'acces aux renseignements personnels en ligne, la publicite sur le Web et la conservation des donnees electroniques. Ces exemples illustrent a la fois les questions ethiques en jeu ainsi que la facon dont le Code peut etre utilise pour analyser et gerer, voire resoudre les situations. Apres avoir examine les trois exemples, on discute de la pertinence du Code pour resoudre les questions ethiques que suscitent les technologies qui ne cessent d'evoluer. Mots-cles : publicite, conservation des donnees electroniques, ethique, Internet, reseaux sociaux. Continuous advances in electronic and computer technology present new opportunities and ethical challenges for psychologists (Fisher, 2009; p. 76). There is a story, possibly apocryphal, from decades ago that relates to the problems inherent with the use of cutting-edge technology and illustrates its opportunities and challenges. At the time the story takes place, fax machines were using very special, and expensive, thermal fax paper. It would be a few years until manufacturers started to sell plain-paper fax machines. In this story, a hospital received a telephone call from a local pizza shop. This pizza shop had recently purchased a brand new fax machine and had been advertising how one could just fax in an order and it would be delivered. They were using this new technology to provide cutting edge service delivery to their pizza clients. In the call to the hospital, the pizza shop manager was very upset. The hospital was using vast amounts of the pizza shop's expensive thermal fax paper through the inadvertent faxing of a large client file to the pizza shop. Apparently, the pizza shop's new fax number was only one digit off from another hospital's fax number where the first hospital had been trying to fax the client file. The manager demanded the hospital stop wasting the pizza shop's expensive thermal fax paper. It is broadly recognised that Novel or emerging technologies will continually create new ethical issues (Koocher & KeithSpiegel, 2008; p. …