Information Technology and Electronic Information: An Ethical Dilemma (Report‪)‬

Background and Purpose Information technology (IT) ethics play a new and important role in the 21st century. However, concern over ethical uses of computer technology is not new. The historical basis is rich and well-documented, including the voices of such pioneers as Norbert Wiener (1948), Donn Parker (1968) and Joseph Weizenbaum (1976). Wiener, for example, explored what he saw as the ethical implications of computer technology, engaging basic questions, principles involving justice, mission and purpose, as well as computer ethics in practice (1950; Bynum, 1999).