Digital Ethics Rafael Capurro Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University

1. Digital Ethics Rafael Capurro Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

2. Introduction • Since the second half of the last century computer scientists, such as Norbert Wiener and Joseph Weizenbaum, called public’s attention to the ethical challenges immanent in computer technology that can be compared in their societal relevance to the ambivalent promises of nuclear energy. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

3. Wiener / Weizenbaum R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

4. Introduction • In the beginning the discussion was focused on the moral responsibility of computer professionals. • But for scientists like Wiener and Weizenbaum the impact of computer technology was understood to be something that concerned society as a whole. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

5. Introduction • Half a century after Wiener’s seminal work the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) developed the vision R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

6. Introduction • “[…] to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

7. Introduction • in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” (WSIS 2003) R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

8. WSIS R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

9. Introduction • The WSIS also proposed a political agenda, namely R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

10. Introduction • “[…] to harness the potential of information and communication technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration, namely the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

11. Introduction • improvement of maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and development of global partnerships for development for the attainment of a more peaceful, just and prosperous world.” (WSIS 2003) R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

12. Introduction • The academic as well as the societal debates on these issues have increased rapidly particularly since the rise of the Internet. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

13. Introduction • I define digital ethics or information ethics in a narrower sense as dealing with the impact of digital ICT on society and the environment at large as well as with ethical questions dealing with the Internet, digital information and communication media (digital media ethics) in particular. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

14. Introduction • Information ethics in a broader sense deals with information and communication including but not limited to the digital media. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

15. Introduction • This presentation addresses some ethical issues regarding the impact of digital ICT on society and the environment. • In the second part I briefly discuss issues such as privacy, information overload, internet addiction, digital divide, surveillance and robotics particularly from an intercultural perspective. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

16. Introduction • The message is that ethical reflection can and should contribute to address and find sustainable solutions to the technological challenges of the digital age. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

17. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Economic, political and ecological activities of modern societies rely heavily on digital communication networks. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

18. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • The relevance of digital ICT on the economy became obvious with the burst of the 2000 dot.com bubble and, in my opinion, ICT was one of the main factors leading to the recent world financial and economic crisis. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

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20. September 13, 2008American Investment Banking pillar Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy and all of a sudden affordable mortgage loans have caused a financial meltdown – causing the greatest economic recession since the Depression in the 1930ssource: http://totallytop10.com/current-affairs/global-news/10-unforgettable-news-stories-of-2008 R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

21. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Beyond the moral individual responsibility of politicians, bankers and managers, there is a systemic issue that has to do with the digitalization of financial and economic communication and information. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

22. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Digital capitalism was and is still able to bypass national and international law, control and monitoring institutions and mechanisms as well as codes of practice and good governance leading to a global crisis of trust not only within the system but with regard to the system itself. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

23. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Many policy and economic experts agree that in order to develop a people-oriented and sustainable world economic system, national and international monitoring agencies as well as international law and self-binding rules are needed.   R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

24. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Academic research in digital ethics should become a core mandatory issue of economics and business studies. Similarly to the already well established bioethics committees, ethical issues of ICT should be addressed taking as a model for instance the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

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26. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • ICT has a deep impact on politics leading to a transformation of 20th century broadcast mass media based democracy, or mediocracy, on the basis of new kinds of digital-mediated interactive participation. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

27. Bush / Obama R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

28. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • New interactive media weaken the hierarchical one-to-many structure of traditional global mass-media, giving individuals, groups, and whole societies the capacity to become senders and not “just” receivers of messages. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

29. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • We live in message societies. I call the science dealing with messages and messengers angeletics (from Greek: angelía / angelos = message / messenger). R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

30. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • New ICTs are widely used for political participation and grass-roots protest groups as well as by liberation and peace movements. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

31. Iran Protest Photos, June 15, 2009Source: http://www.pdnpulse.com/2009/06/iran-protest-photos-key-to-twitter-coverage.html R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

32. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • By the same token, digital communication networks make possible new structures of political surveillance, censorship and control on individuals and whole societies. Digital ethics should address the question of the human right to communicate. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

33. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • The Internet has become a local and global basic social communication infrastructure. Freedom of access should be considered a fundamental ethical principle similar to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

34. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Some of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights such as the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Art. 18), the right to freedom of opinion and expression (Art. 19), and the right to peaceful assembly and association (Art. 20) need to be explicitly interpreted and defined taking the new and unique affordances of internetworked digital media into consideration. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

35. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Lawrence Lessig envisaged a situation in which the universality of Cyberspace is endangered by local codes of the market, the software industry, the laws of nation states, and moral traditions. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

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37. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • He writes: “If we do nothing, the code of cyberspace will change. The invisible hand will change it in a predictable way. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

38. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • To do nothing is to embrace at least that. It is to accept the changes that this change in code will bring about. It is to accept a cyberspace that is less free, or differently free, than the space it was before.” R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

39. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • A free Internet can foster peace and democracy but it can also be used for manipulation and control. For this reason I assess a necessity to strive for a future internet governance regime on the basis of intercultural deliberation, democratic values and human rights R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

40. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • The third issue I would like to highlight concerns the impact of the materialities of ICT on nature and natural resources. Electronic waste has become major issue of digital ethics. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

41. 06 January 2007Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/photosvideos/photos/electronic-waste-in-guangdong-4664?mode=send R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

42. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • It deals with the disposal and recycling of all kinds of ICT devices that already today have devastating consequences on humans and the environment particularly when exported to Third World countries. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

43. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • Issues of sustainability and global justice should be urgently addressed together with the opportunities offered by the same media to promote better shelter, less hunger and combat diseases. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

44. The Global Impact of ICT on Society and the Environment • In other words, I advocate for the expansion of the human rights discourse to include the rights of non-human life and nature. The present ecological crisis is a clear sign that we have to change our lives in order to become not masters but stewards of natural environment. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

45. Digital Media Ethics • The main topics of digital media ethics or digital (information) ethics are intellectual property, privacy, security, information overload, digital divide, gender discrimination, and censorship. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

46. Digital Media Ethics • They are objects of ethical scrutiny not only on the basis of universal rights and principles but also with regard to cultural differences as well as to historical and geographical singularities leading to different kinds of theoretical foundations and practical options. This field of ethics research is now being called intercultural information ethics R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

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48. Digital Media Ethics • One important challenge in this regard is the question about how human cultures can flourish in a global digital environment while avoiding uniformity or isolation. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

49. Digital Media Ethics • Research networks on Information Ethics are flourishing in • Africa : African Network for Information Ethics (ANIE) • and Latin America: Red Latinoamericana de Ética de la Información (RELEI) R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum

50. Digital Media Ethics • An example of the relevance of the intercultural approach in digital media ethics is the discussion on the concept of privacy from a Western vs. a Buddhist perspective. R. Capurro, 2009 Global Forum