Ethics for the Information Age, 9th edition

For courses in computer ethics.

Social and ethical concerns for the information age

Ethics for the Information Age takes a thoughtful approach to evaluating the use, abuse and misuse of technology, considering both the short-term benefits and possible long-term effects. With this text, students will gain a solid grounding in ethics and logic, an understanding of the history of technology and a familiarity with current and cutting-edge information technology.

The 9th Edition includes new material aligned with the beta ACM/IEEE-CS/AAAI Computer Science Curricula 2023 as well as new developments including generative AI; the impact of COVID-19; social media’s role in protests; and more.

Hallmark features of this title

• Thought-provoking end-of-chapter questions, case studies, and dozens of in-class exercises offer opportunities for students to express their views, learn from their classmates and refine their positions on important issues.
• Coverage focuses on 3 main objectives: to get the reader thinking about the process of technological change; present a brief history of computing, networking and information storage and retrieval; and provide examples of moral problems brought about by the introduction of information technology.
• Provides an introduction to ethics and presents the pros and cons of 9 different theories of ethical decision-making.
• Sidebars throughout the text offer practical privacy and security enhancement advice.

New and updated features of this title

Material aligned to the Society, Ethics and Professionalism knowledge area of the beta version of ACM/IEEE-CS/AAAI Computer Science Curricula 2023

• NEW: Diversity, equity and inclusion section explores evidence of gender bias in computing, inclusive language and behavior, best practices and more.
• NEW: Algorithmic bias section gives 7 examples of deployed computer systems that have exhibited algorithmic bias and discusses challenges designers face in creating systems that exhibit fairness.
• NEW: Economies of computing topics, such as monopolies, open vs. closed platforms, pricing strategies, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens as intellectual property.
• NEW: Issues related to sustainability, such as resource consumption, proof-of-work vs. proof-of-stake algorithms, feedback systems to promote sustainable behavior, and e-waste.
• NEW: Views on technology include instrumentalism, neutrality thesis, pragmatism, technological determinism, cultural approaches to technology, and decolonial technical design.
• NEW: Cutting-edge topics include breakthroughs in AI, ChatGPT, and AI ethics; the crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX; the impact of COVID-19 on remote work; ethical rationalizations; ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline; Russia’s cyber attacks on Ukraine; the role of social media in protests; and more.