Foundational Ethics in Computing

Ethics in Computing ��*****��A timeline

Philosophical Ethics - The subdisciplines

The main timeline and many of the info included in this presentation are taken (in some cases verbatim) from:

​

Bynum, T. W. (2008) ‘Computer Ethics: Basic Concepts and Historical Overview (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2001 Edition)’. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2001/entries/ethics-computer/#3.7.

A few words about Ethics

Five questions, in brief, we might want an ethical theory to answer for us:

​

1) Which acts are right and which are wrong? Which acts “ought”(morally) we to perform

​

a) Who is part of our moral community? Towards whom (or what) do we have moral duties and obligations? (Some/all other humans? Animals? Ecological systems? Androids/computers?)

​

b) How do moral ‘oughts’ interact with other reasons for action? Do they always “trump” other reasons?

​

2) What makes a particular action right or wrong?

​

3) What is it about the action that determines its moral status?

​

4) How do we know what is right and wrong?

​

5) What, if anything, motivates us to do what is right?

​

​

​

​

Sources:

Haslanger, S. (2012). 24.03 Good Food: The Ethics and Politics of Food Choices, Fall 2012.

​

A few words about Normative Ethics

Normative ethics seeks to set norms or standards for conduct about what one ought to do, questions about what morality requires/permits us to do, and what is morally valuable and it has been a central part of Western ethics since ancient times.

​

A crucial question of normative ethics is whether actions are to be judged right or wrong solely on the basis of their consequences. Traditionally, theories that judge actions by their consequences were called “teleological,” and theories that judge actions by whether they accord with a certain rule were called “deontological.” Although the latter term continues to be used, the former has been largely replaced by the more straightforward term “consequentialist.”

​

The debate between consequentialist and deontological theories has led to the development of a number of rival views in both camps.

​

The simplest form of consequentialism is classical utilitarianism, which holds that every action is to be judged good or bad according to whether its consequences do more than any alternative action to increase—or, if that is impossible, to minimize any decrease in—the net balance of pleasure over pain in the universe. This view was often called “hedonistic utilitarianism.”

​

​

Sources:

Duignan, B. (Ed.). (2010). The history of western ethics. Britannica Educational Publishing. (p.131)

Haslanger, S. (2012). 24.03 Good Food: The Ethics and Politics of Food Choices, Fall 2012.

​

The Big Three

Utilitarianism

Deontology

Virtue Ethics

The Big Three

Utilitarianism

• Main Contributors: Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill

​

• Focus is on consequences of actions�
• Greatest Happiness Principle: Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, 
• wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. 

​

• Cost – Benefit analysis

​

​

• Contemporary moral theorists state:

​

• You ought always to act so as to maximize happiness, i.e., the right act is the act that results in the greatest amount of happiness overall. 

The Big Three

Deontology

• Main Contributor: Immanuel Kant

​

• Focus is on moral rules or reasons / duties�
• You are No Exception Principle (YANEP): "…in whatever you do, you should act for reasons that could serve as acceptable reasons for everyone." 

​

• Respect for Persons Principle (RPP): In all action one should respect others as sources of value and never merely as an instrument for one’s own purposes. 

​

• What makes a choice right is its conformity with a moral norm.

​

• The Right is said to have priority over the Good (regardless how much ‘Good’ can be produced).

​

The Big Three

Virtue Ethics

• Main Contributor: Aristotle

​

• Focus is on the development of moral character�
• An action is right insofar as it is the manifestation of a virtuous character trait, where virtuous character traits are those that are present in the fully flourishing human being. 

​

• A virtue is an excellent trait of character. It is a disposition, well entrenched in its possessor to notice, expect, value, feel, desire, choose, act, and react in certain characteristic ways.

​

• An essential aspect of the good life is Eudaimonia (flourishing) is the ultimate goal (Eudaimonist virtue ethics).

​

Ethics in Computing Timeline

1940s & 1950s

• Norbert Wiener: Founder of the field of Cybernetics

​

• Cybernetics: or control and communication in the animal and the machine
• The Human Use of Human Beings. Although Wiener did not use the term "computer ethics" (which came into common use more than two decades later), he laid down a comprehensive foundation which remains today a powerful basis for computer ethics research and analysis.
• The latter included (1) an account of the purpose of a human life, (2) four principles of justice, (3) a powerful method for doing applied ethics, (4) discussions of the fundamental questions of computer ethics, and (5) examples of key computer ethics topics.

​

​

• Alan Turing – never mentions ethics but has been a huge influence on the development of theoretical computer science.

​

• Turing test: A standard for determining a machine’ intelligence. The idea was that a computer could be said to "think" if a human interrogator could not tell it apart, through conversation, from a human being.

​

• Turing Test theory: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/
• Visual Turing test: https://www.newscientist.com/article/visual-turing-test/

1960s

1960s

• Donn Parker of SRI International, formerly Stanford Research Institute)

​

• "Rules of Ethics in Information Processing" in Communications of the ACM in 1968

​

• Parker's work was not informed by a general theoretical framework, it is the next important milestone in the history of computer ethics after Wiener.

​

• Ηeaded the development of the first Code of Professional Conduct for the Association for Computing Machinery (eventually adopted by the ACM in 1973)

​

​

1970s

​

In the 1970s the first books about computer ethics are written. Walter Maner notices in his Medical Ethics course that ethical questions become significantly more complex with the involvement of computers. Thus the term “Computer Ethics” is defined for the first time.

​

Joseph Weizenbaum creates a computer program that mimics a psychotherapist and is shocked by people’s reaction at the time. People would develop emotional connections with the computer sharing their intimate thoughts with it.

1970s

• Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT

​

• Created ELIZA, a script of a crude imitation of a Rogerian psychotherapist:

​

Modern implementation of ELIZA

http://www.chayden.net/eliza/Eliza.html

​

​

​

​

• Published the book, “Computer Power and Human Reason” in 1976, expressing concerns about that an "information processing model" of human beings was reinforcing an already growing tendency among scientists, and even the general public, to see humans as mere machines.

​

1970s cont’d

• Walter Maner at Old Dominion University, Virginia & later at Bowling Green State University, Ohio
• First definition of the term “Computer Ethics” which refer to that field of inquiry which examines "ethical problems aggravated, transformed or created by computer technology". He follows an applied/utilitarian ethics approach in his definition suggesting that computers create new ethical problems.
• Started an experimental university course on this subject. Created workshops and lectures at CS and Philosophy conferences.
• Sparked a lot of academic-level interest in this field and had a big impact on the teaching of computer ethics across the USA.
• Published a “Starter Kit in Computer Ethics” (look for it) containing curriculum and pedagogical materials for the development of computer ethics courses.

​

• In 1973, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) adopted its first code of ethics.

​

By the 1980s, a number of social and ethical consequences of information technology were becoming public issues in America and Europe: for example, issues like computer-enabled crime, disasters caused by computer failures, invasions of privacy via computer databases, and major law suits regarding software ownership.

​

Also, in the 1980s, other fields such as Psychology and Sociology started being concerned with the impact of computing in the human psyche and in society at large (e.g. Sherry Turkle’s “The Second Self”[1984], or Judith Perolle’s “ Computers and Social Change: Information, Property and Power [1987]).

​

1980s

1980s

• Deborah Johnson of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Published the first seminal textbook in the field under the title “Computer Ethics” [1985]
• In her book she defines the field as one which studies the way in which computers "pose new versions of standard moral problems and moral dilemmas, exacerbating the old problems, and forcing us to apply ordinary moral norms in uncharted realms,". She follows the same applied ethics approach as Maner but she supports that computers reshape old moral issues under a new light.
• James Moore at Dartmouth College
• Published the influential article "What Is Computer Ethics?" [1985]
• In this, in the same year as Johnson, he gave a definition of computer ethics which was much broader and more wide-ranging than that of Maner or Johnson. It is independent of any specific philosopher's theory; and it is compatible with a wide variety of methodological approaches to ethical problem-solving. For Moor, computer ethics is a field mostly concerned with "policy vacuums" and "conceptual muddles" regarding the social and ethical use of information technology.
• Walter Maner & Terrel Ward Bynum
• Published a “Starter Kit in Computer Ethics” containing curriculum and pedagogical materials for the development of computer ethics courses. Bynum furthered Maner’s work in developing courses and workshops in the field of computer ethics.

​

In the 1990s, a big mobilisation of scholars, thinkers, universities, research centres, conferences, professional computing organisations, etc. can be seen getting involved in the field of computer ethics.

​

One very big dimension of it is computing and professional responsibility. Some important names involved in this are: Donald Gotterbarn, Keith Miller, Simon Rogerson, and Dianne Martin.

​

The second generation of Computer Ethics appears.

1990s

1990s

• Bynum and Maner organised the first-ever international multidisciplinary conference on computer ethics in 1991

​

• In 1992, ACM adopted a new set of ethical rules called "ACM code of Ethics and Professional Conduct" which consisted of 24 statements of personal responsibility.
• The ETHICOMP series of conferences begins led by Simon Rogerson and Terrell Ward Bynum
• In the mid 1990s the dawn of the second generation of computer ethics
• Donald Gotterbarn adopted a different approach to defining the field of computer ethics.
• Gotterbarn's approach to computer ethics was that they should be viewed as a branch of professional ethics, which is concerned primarily with standards of practice and codes of conduct of computing professionals

​

1990s cont’d

• Krystyna Górniak-Kocikowska
• The Górniak Hypothesis -> In her 1995 ETHICOMP paper, she predicted that computer ethics would eventually go from being a subtype of applied ethics to a global and intercultural system of ethics for the information age.
• Deborah Johnson
• The Johnson Hypothesis -> In a 1999 ETHICOMP paper, Johnson addressed the question of whether or not the name ‘computer ethics’ (or perhaps ‘information ethics’) will continue to be used by ethicists and others to refer to ethical questions and problems associated with information technology. When information technology is integrated into everyday life and its presence will go by unnoticed, computer ethics would thus be effectively absorbed into ordinary ethics.

​

The Gorniak and Johnson hypotheses, although seemingly similar, are antithetical to one another. However, they are both consistent. The “explosion” of computing in the 1990s and 2000s has led to the development of a variety of terms that try to capture the ethics associated with computing be it machines, networks or otherwise.

​

​

2000s

2000s

• Herman Tavani
• Tavani in his seminal handbook “Ethics and Technology” suggests using the term “Cyberethics” for anything pertaining to Cybertechnology. The latter refers to wide range of computing and communication devices, from stand-alone computers to connected, or networked, computing and communication technologies. The term is used to represent the entire range of computing systems, from stand-alone computers to privately owned networks to the Internet itself.
• Luciano Floridi
• He has taken things towards a more philosophical/metaphysical direction. Floridi has created a new philosophical paradigm called Information Ethics which he describes as a macroethical theory alongside virtue ethics, deontologism, consequentialism and contractualism with the intent of making it applicable to all ethical situations. (Bynum, The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics). The new informational habitat, the Infosphere, is generated through ICT and all the informational structures and processes surrounding it, according to Floridi. Under this theory, every moral action is an information processing pattern. (Dodig-Crnkovic, 2012)

​

2010s

2010s

By now it is very apparent that computing technology is everywhere in the last decade. This is also evident in modern media like film and TV that have been using sci-fi, ethical and social issues as themes for their plots.

​

• Bernd Carsten Stahl and Job Timmermans from De Montfort University, and Brent Daniel Mittelstadt from the University of Oxford
• In their paper titled “The Ethics of Computing: A Survey of the Computing-Oriented Literature” they introduce the term “ethics of computing” to show that even though the area of computer ethics has been a very focused field in the past this has changed due to the pervasiveness of computing technology and devices nowadays. Modern discussions about topics such as “(state) surveillance, “Big Data,” intellectual property of digital content, social consequences of widespread use of social media, and many more indicate that ethical issues related to computing have taken center stage”.

​

​

The evolution of the term “Computer Ethics”

Cybernetics

Norbert Wiener

​

In The Human Use of Human Beings, Wiener set the foundational principles for what two decades later would become computer ethics research and analysis

Rules of Ethics in Information Processing

Donn Parker

​

Parker's work was not informed by a general theoretical framework, it is the next important milestone in the history of computer ethics after Wiener

Computer Ethics

Walter Maner

​

The first ever definition of the term. Maner defined the field as one which examines "ethical problems aggravated, transformed or created by computer technology".

It follows an applied/utilitarian ethics approach in his definition suggesting that computers create new ethical problems.

​

​

Computer Ethics

Deborah Johnson defined the field as one which studies the way in which computers "pose new versions of standard moral problems and moral dilemmas, exacerbating the old problems, and forcing us to apply ordinary moral norms in uncharted realms,". She follows the same applied ethics approach as Maner but she supports that computers reshape old moral issues under a new light.

James Moore gave a wide-ranging definition of computer ethics. It is independent of any specific philosopher's theory and it is compatible with a wide variety of methodological approaches to ethical problem-solving. For Moor, Computer Ethics is a field mostly concerned with "policy vacuums" and "conceptual muddles" regarding the social and ethical use of information technology.

Donald Gotterbarn's approach to computer ethics was that they should be viewed as a branch of professional ethics, which is concerned primarily with standards of practice and codes of conduct of computing professionals

Cyberethics

Herman Tavani

​

Tavani suggests using the term “Cyberethics” for anything related to Cybertechnology. The term is used to represent the entire range of computing systems, from stand-alone computers to privately owned networks to the Internet itself.

​

​

Ethics of Computing

Stahl, Timmermans & Mittelstadt

​

They introduce the term “ethics of computing” to show that even though the area of computer ethics has been a very focused field in the past this has changed due to the pervasiveness of computing technology and devices nowadays. Modern discussions about topics such as “(state) surveillance, “Big Data,” intellectual property of digital content, social consequences of widespread use of social media, and many more indicate that ethical issues related to computing have taken center stage”.

To insert your own icons*:

​

Insert >> Icons

​

(*Only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers)

Relevant Sources

1. ACM, C. M. (1992). ACM code of ethics and professional conduct. Code of Ethics.
2. Bynum, T. W. (2000). The foundation of computer ethics. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 30(2), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/572230.572231
3. Bynum, T. W. (2008). Milestones in the History of Information and Computer Ethics. In H. T. Himma, Kenneth Einar; Tavani (Ed.), The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics (pp. 25–48). John Wiley & Sons.
4. Bynum, T. W. (2008) ‘Computer Ethics: Basic Concepts and Historical Overview (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2001 Edition)’. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2001/entries/ethics-computer/#3.7.
5. Dodig-Crnkovic, G. (2003). Shifting the paradigm of philosophy of science: Philosophy of information and a new renaissance. Minds and Machines, 13(4), 521–536.
6. Dodig-Crnkovic G. (2012) Floridi’s Information Ethics as Macro-ethics and Info-computational Agent-Based Models. In: Demir H. (eds) Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Technology. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4292-5_1
7. Floridi, L. (1999). Information ethics: On the philosophical foundation of computer ethics. Ethics and Information Technology, 1(1), 33–52.
8. Floridi, L. (2014). The fourth revolution: How the infosphere is reshaping human reality. OUP Oxford.
9. Gordon, D. (2010). Forty years of movie hacking: considering the potential implications of the popular media representation of computer hackers from 1968 to 2008. International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, 2(1-2), 59-87.
10. Gotterbarn, D. (1991). Computer ethics: Responsibility regained. National Forum, 71(3), 26.
11. Johnson, D. (1985). Computer ethics. Englewood Cliffs (NJ).
12. Moor, J. H. (1985). What is computer ethics? Metaphilosophy, 16(4), 266–275.
13. Stahl, B. C., Timmermans, J., & Mittelstadt, B. D. (2016). The ethics of computing: A survey of the computing-oriented literature. Acm Computing Surveys (CSUR), 48(4), 1–38.
14. Herman T. Tavani. 2012. Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing (4th. ed.). Wiley Publishing.
15. Wiener, N. (1988). The human use of human beings: Cybernetics and society (Issue 320). Da Capo Press.

Who’s presenting?

DISCLAIMER

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

This resource was created by the Ethics4EU Consortium with the support of the European Commission.

​

​

More resources at www.ethics4eu.eu