Information Ethics in the Electronic Age

Book excerpt: This collection of essays explores the ethical issues that arise when information technology seems to exceed and even contradict the purpose of its creators. The studies focus upon the management of information technology, specifically the Internet, considering the most ethical ways of generating, using, and controlling information technology in our time. Section One includes essays pertaining to Africa’s place in the 21st century, including democracy, information flow, connections with the world through the Internet, telecommunications, Uganda and the digital divide, and an examination of a pilot study in South Africa for developing a universal tool to measure information poverty. The essays of Section Two cover topical library issues, such as professional information organizations and their ethic codes, communicating ethics when teaching electronic research to undergraduates, pay-for-placement search engines, consumer health information services, laws applying to confidentiality of library records, privacy control after September 11, cybercrime investigation, and the technologies protecting copyright. The essays were originally presented at the “Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21st Century” symposium held at the University of Memphis on October 24-27, 2002. Each includes references and helpful Internet resources.