Computer ethics: moral philosophy or professional propaganda?

Summary As human service waiters implement computerized information technologies, they operate in areas in which problems of power, de-personalization, and the invasion of privacy are central. In attempting to understand and resolve these issues, studies of computer ethics deal with moral values, economic policy, and other social change impacts associated with computerization. Unfortunately, the diffuse focus of ethical discourse in computing is contusing. This paper, in clarifying the relation of “computer ethics” to issues of personal freedom, social control, and social inequality, seeks to provide human service workers and other professional computer specialists with a framework for identifying the social effects and moral dimensions of computerization.

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