Abstract
This paper attempts to give an insight into emerging ethical issues due to the increased usage of the Internet in our lives. We discuss three main theoretical approaches relating to the ethics involved in the information technology (IT) era: first, the use of IT as a tool; second, the use of social constructivist methods; and third, the approach of phenomenologists. Certain aspects of ethics and IT have been discussed based on a phenomenological approach and moral development. Further, ethical issues related to social networking sites are discussed. A plausible way to make the virtual world ethically responsive is collective responsibility which proposes that society has the power to influence but not control behavior in the virtual world.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Branscomb, A. W. (1990). Rogue computer programs and computer rogues: tailoring the punishment to fit the crime. Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal, 16, 1–61.
Charles, R. (1987). Computer bulletin boards and defamation: Who should be liable? Under what standard? JL and Tech, 2, 121–325.
Ermann, D., Williams, M., & Shauf, M. (1997). Computers, ethics, and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Heidegger, M. (1977). The question concerning technology and other essays. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
Introna, L. (2011). Phenomenological approaches to ethics and information technology, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/ethics-it-phenomenology/. Accessed 15 May 2012.
Johnson, Deborah G. (1997). Ethics online: shaping social behavior online takes more than new laws and modified edicts. Communications of the ACM, 40(1), 60–65.
Jonas, H. (1984). The imperative of responsibility: In search of an ethics for the technological age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2011). Online social networking and addiction—A review of psychological literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8, 3528–3552.
Light, B., & McGrath, K. (2010). Ethics and social networking sites: A disclosive analysis of Facebook. Information Technology & People, 23(4), 290–311.
May, L. (1987). The morality of groups: Collective responsibility, group-based harm, and corporate rights. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Mayo, M. (1998). Social impact of the internet: What does it mean? Communications of the ACM, 41(12), 21.
Mesthene E. G (1997). The Role of Technology in Society. Technology and values (pp. 71-86). Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham.
Mooradian, N. (2009). The importance of privacy revisited. Ethics and Information Technology, 11(3), 163–174. doi:10.1007/s10676-009-9201-2.
Motahari, S., Manikopoulos, C., Hiltz, R., & Jones, Q. (2007). Seven privacy worries in ubiquitous social computing. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, 171–172.
Nielsen and NM Incite. State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012. December 3, 2012. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/social-media-report-2012-social-media-comes-of-age/.
Nov, O., & Wattal, S. (2009). Social computing privacy concerns: Antecedents and effects. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, 333–336.
Rheingold, H. (1993). A slice of life in my virtual community. In L. Harasim (Ed.), Global networks (pp. 57–80). MA: MIT Press.
Smiley, M. (2011). Collective Responsibility, In Edward N. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Summer 2011 Edition). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2011/entries/collective-responsibility/. Accessed 17 May 2012.
Spafford, E. H. (1995). Are computer hacker break-ins ethical? In D. G. Johnson & H. Nissenbaum (Eds.), Computers, ethics, and social values. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Social networking sites. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Community Safety&L2 = Cyber Crime & Internet Safety&L3 = Social Interaction Online&sid = Cago&b = terminalcontent&f = community_social_networking_sites&csid = Cago. Accessed 15 November 2010.
Stiegler, B. (1998). Technics and time, 1: The fault of epimetheus. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Turiel, E. (1978). Social regulations and domains of social concepts. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 1978(1), 45–74.
Wang, F. Y., Carley, K. M., Zeng, D., & Mao, W. (2007). Social computing: From social informatics to social intelligence. Intelligent Systems, IEEE, 22(2), 79–83.
Young, K. (1999). Internet addiction: Evaluation and treatment. Student British Medical Journal, 7(351), 352.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharma, S., Lomash, H. & Bawa, S. Who Regulates Ethics in the Virtual World?. Sci Eng Ethics 21, 19–28 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-014-9516-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-014-9516-1