Ethics and Technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing, 4th Edition

The Fourth Edition of Ethics and Technology introduces students to issues and controversies that comprise the relatively new field of cyberethics. This textbook examines a wide range of cyberethics issues–from specific issues of moral responsibility to broader social and ethical concerns that affect each of us in our day-to-day lives. Recent developments in machine ethics should also cause students to consider questions about conventional conceptions of autonomy and trust. Such topics and many other engaging ethical controversies–both hypothetical and actual cases–are discussed in this widely used and respected text.

Updates to the 4th Edition include

New or updated scenarios in each chapter
New sample arguments in many chapters, which enable students to apply the tools for argument analysis covered in Chapter 3
Newly designed set of study/exercise questions call Unalyzed Scenarios in each chapter, which can be used for either in-class group projects or outside class assignments
Additional review, discussion, and essay/presentation questions at the end of many chapters

New Issues Examined and Analyzed include
Ethical and social aspects of Cloud Computing, including concerns about the privacy and security of users' data that is increasingly being stored in "the Cloud"
Concerns about the increasing "personalization" of search results based on queries entered by users on search engines such as Google
Controversies surrounding Wikileaks and the tension it creates between free speech and responsible journalism
Concerns affecting "net neutrality" and whether Internet regulation may be required to ensure that service providers on the Internet do not also unduly control the content delivered via their services
Recent controversies affecting "machine ethics" and the development of "moral machines" or autonomous systems that will be embedded with software designed for making moral decisions
Questions about our conventional notions of autonomy and trust–can machines be autonomous? Can we trust machines to act in ways that will always be in the best interest of humans?