IT and Ethics

1. IT and Ethics Lecture 11 Information Technology and War Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

2. Information warfare • Hostile attacks • Mainly web sites • Also government agency / military computers • Also university computers • Done by • Crackers • Terrorists • Other government agencies and militaries (mainly foreign) Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

3. IT in weapons development • Can and should IT be used in weapon development? • Are weapons bad per se? • Hunting rifle? • Knife? • Are guns or swords bad per se? • Machine gun? • Pistol? • Sword? Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

4. IT in warfare • Remember, that the Internet was originally a military ARPAnet… • Smart bombs • It (sometimes) hits the wanted target smartly • IT in training of soldiers, Finnish Army has taken “KESI” command game into use for training of Cadet’s—in use in most European countries • IT in the field in the uniforms, cf. soldiers in Iraq using wearable computing in the field Lahtiranta & Kimppa (2006) Some Ethical Problems Related to the Near-Future Use of Telemedicine in Military Jeffrey Wilson (2004) Mediums and Messages: An Argument Against Biotechnical Enhancements of Soldiers in the Armies of Liberal Democracies Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

5. Future applications • IT used to monitor soldiers? • Automatic drug administration if deemed necessary by the system? • IT and biotech (i.e. Bio-IT/Bioinf) used to enhance soldiers? (See X-series in “Dark Angel”) • Terminator? According to various sources robots are coming to the frontline Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

6. DeGeorge (2003) Post-September 11: Computers, ethics and war Duty to develop weapons • Is there (DeGeorge) a duty to develop more exact, ‘surgical’, weaponry during times of peace and war, so as to avoid civilian casualties? • Smart bombs • Viruses in weapons software Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

7. Or is it a ruse? • if such more precise weapons are developed, is there a risen likelihood of a country to go to a ‘justified’ war (Bissett), when civilian casualties for ‘large part’ can be avoided? • Can that be used as an excuse to over-power countries with differing societies? • Are such weapons actually used in great amounts? • War is just the extension of politics • Use (and misuse) of just-war arguments Andy Bissett (2003) Carl von Clausewitz and high technology war Carl von Clausewitz “On War” Johan Verstraeten (et al.) (2004) Editorial: Ethical Presuppositions and Implications of Warfare in the Twenty-First Century Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

8. Example of a ruse • Afghanistan: All that was seen on television was ‘smart-bombs’, yet, 80 % of bombs used were either carpet bombs or cluster bombs, the latter even worse if possible – still Afghani children find them and mistake them for toys and loose arms, legs, heads, etc. just like infantry-mines which are internationally abhorred. • Same applies – to a lesser degree – to Iraq. Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

9. Distancing • Young men play a lot of violent computer games • Some real weapons systems controls are like computer games • The difference is that people actually die and get mutilated due to the real weapons systems • Are the ones using these too distanced from the actual death and horror? Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems

10. Demonstration case • If we continue to develop infantry robots, what will it mean to warfare? • Who decides what they are used for? • How do they act in the field? • Who do they attack? Kai Kimppa, IT Department, Information Systems