Synopses & Reviews
Computers can have both a positive and negative impact on our lives. As they become increasingly important, these machines have the potential to deprive us of our privacy and even the jobs we need to support ourselves. On the other hand, they can enhance the quality of human life by producing unimagined freedom from drudgery and want. Ideal for students in sociology, philosophy, and computer science courses,
Computers, Ethics, and Society serves as a reminder that although technology has the potential to improve or undermine our quality of life, it is society which has the power to ultimately decide how computers will affect our lives.
Computers, Ethics, and Society, now in its second edition, provides a stimulating set of interdisciplinary readings specifically designed to understand these issues. The readings examine current computer problems, discussing them at a level that can explain future realities. Topics include the threat to privacy, computer wrong-doing and whistleblowing, and the questions of how to decide when and if a computer-related act is wrongful. In addition, the problems of unemployment and opportunities for international cooperation are considered in light of broader issues of justice and community. New chapters in the second edition deal with specific and timely issues such as the conflict over copyrights on the Internet; the influence and effect of computer technology on women, minorities, and third world societies; and the exploitations of Internet technology by right-wing militia groups and other underground organizations.
Synopsis
In today's world, computers can have complex and contradictory effects on human life. They can enhance our quality of life by creating access to previously unimagined worlds. On the other hand, as computers become increasingly important in our everyday lives, their potential to strip away our privacy and autonomy increases exponentially.
Computers, Ethics, and Society, now in its third edition, offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary set of readings on the ethical and social implications of computer technology. Taking into account technological, social, and philosophical issues, the contributors consider topics such as the work-related ramifications of automation, the ethical obligations of computer specialists, and the threats to privacy that come with increased computerization.
Thoroughly up-to-date in its coverage, this collection includes articles on specific ethical dilemmas related to contemporary issues and events. Essays new to the third edition cover such topics as cyber-terrorism, the ethics of downloading music from Internet sites, and the question of whether human beings may someday be "replaced" by artificial intelligence and computer technology. An ideal text for sociology, philosophy, and computer science courses, Computers, Ethics, and Society, 3/e, reminds students that although technology has the potential to improve or undermine our quality of life, societal forces ultimately have the power to decide how computers will affect our lives.
Table of Contents
Ethical Contexts Philosophical Ethics
1. The Best Action Is the One with the Best Consequences, John Hospers
2. The Best Action Is the One in Accord with Universal Rules, James Rachels
3. The Best Action Is the One that Exercises the Mind's Faculties, Aristotle
Professional Ethics
4. ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Association for Computing Machinery
5. Using the ACM Code, Ronald E. Anderson, Deborah G. Johnson, Donald Gotterbaum, Judith Perrolle
6. Can We Find a Single Ethical Code?, Robert N. Barger
7. The Morality of Whistle-Blowing, Sissela Bok
8. The Ethics of Systems Design, Batya Friedman and Peter H. Kahn, Jr.
9. Are Hacker Break-ins Ethical?, Eugene H. Spafford
10. Using Computers As Means, Not Ends, Herbert L. Dreyfus and Stuart E. Dreyfus with Tom Athanasion
Historical and Cultural Contexts
11. Technology Is a Tool of the Powerful, Philip Bereano
12. A History of the Personal Computer, Robert Pool
13. Informing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
14. Why the Future Doesn't Need Us, Bill Joy
15. Boolean Logic, Michael Heim
Social Contexts
16. Privacy in a Database Nation, Simson Garfinkel
17. The GNU Manifesto, Richard M. Stallman
18. Crossing the Digital Divide, Jessica Brown
19. Gender Bias in Instructional Technology, Katy Campbell
20. Computers and the Work Experience, Anthony M. Townsend
21. Information Technologies and Our Changing Economy, Martin Camoy
22. Music: Intellectual Property's Canary in the Digital Coal Mine, National Research Council
23. The Case for Collective Violence, Craig Summers and Eric Markusen
24. Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism, Dorothy E. Denning