Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Second Edition

Since CyberEthics first appeared only two short years ago, the social and technical landscape of cyberspace has undergone remarkable changes. There are new technologies, for example, that make it easier to download digital music and movies. At the same time, there have been extraordinary legal developments — new laws like the Children's Internet Protection Act and various court decisions — defining new constraints for Web surfers. New governance bodies have emerged such as ICANN, trying to impose order on this rapidly expanding network. The primary purpose in this revised edition is to carefully review the social costs and moral problems that have been triggered by the expanded use of this communication and information network. While some of these problems are familiar ones, many are new to the fields of computer ethics and public policy. Our primary purpose in this revised edition is to carefully review the social costs and moral problems that have been triggered by the expanded use of this communications and information network. While some of these problems are familiar ones, many are new to the fields of computer ethics and public policy. For example, while much work has been done on the topic of intellectual property, little attention has been paid to the ethical dimension of interconnectivity. In the process of examining these issues we will identify some of the legal disputes which will most likely become paradigm cases for more complex situations yet to come.