Reading Assignment #1

Title: Computer ethics: Its birth and its future

Author: Terrell Ward Bynu

Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers

URL: Bynu, T. W. (2001). Computer Ethics : Its Birth and Its Future. Ethics and Information Technology, 3: 109–112.

Abstract of the article:

This article discusses some “historical milestones” in computer ethics, as well as two alternative visions of the future of computer ethics. Topics include the impressive foundation for computer ethics laid down by Norbert Wiener in the 1940s and early 1950s; the pioneering efforts of Donn Parker, Joseph Weizenbaum and Walter Maner in the 1970s; Krystyna Gorniak’s hypothesis that computer ethics will evolve into “global ethics”; and Deborah Johnson’s speculation that computer ethics may someday “disappear”.

Three things I learned from my Reading Assignment:

• That "computer ethics" as a field of scholarly research was created by MIT professor Norbert Wiener
• That the rules of computer ethics (and I agree with Gorniak), no matter how well thought through will be ineffective unless respected by the vast majority of or even all computer users
• That computer ethics was already foreseen by computer scientists, professors, etc. to be significant for the future, and it is true indeed, with this fast changing information technology nowadays, it should be a global concern

Application / Implication of the new things I learned to my work / to me as a person:

• As a computer and internet user, I should be more responsible when taking advantage of these resources. Always taking into consideration not just my own rights but also the rights of others.
• I should educate myself with these ethics, practice, and share them with other people.
• I should read more about netiquette to familiarize myself with what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, and be a responsible netizen.