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Ethics Inf Technol (2012) 14:305317 DOI 10.1007/s10676-012-9293-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Anticipating ethical issues in emerging IT
Philip A. E. Brey
Published online: 24 May 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract In this essay, a new approach to the ethics of emerging information technology will be presented, called anticipatory technology ethics (ATE). The ethics of emerging technology is the study of ethical issues at the R&D and introduction stage of technology development through anticipation of possible future devices, applications, and social consequences. In the essay, I will rst locate emerging technology in the technology development cycle, after which I will consider ethical approaches to emerging technologies, as well as obstacles in developing such approaches. I will argue that any sound approach must centrally include futures studies of technology. I then present ATE and some applications of it to emerging information technologies. In ATE, ethical analysis is performed at three levels, the technology, artifact and application levels, and at each levels distinct types of ethical questions are asked. ATE analyses result in the identication and evaluation of a broad range of ethical issues that can be anticipated in relation to an emerging information technology. This ethical analysis can then be used for ethical recommendations for design or governance.
Keywords Anticipatory technology ethics Emerging
technologies Uncertainty Futures studies Forecasting
Technology assessment Ethical impact assessment
Design Governance Responsible research & innovation
Introduction
Jim Moor (2005) has argued that we need better ethics for emerging technology. Current ethics, he holds, is insufciently equipped to address the revolutionary changes that are being brought about with new and emerging technologies. He argues that we need ethical approaches that are better informed concerning new technologies and their social consequences and that are more proactive in identifying and addressing ethical issues in relation to them. I agree. Far too little work has been done on developing such approaches. The aim of this paper is to answer to Jim Moors call by presenting a particular approach for the ethical analysis of emerging technology, with specic reference to information technology.
The paper is structured as follows. In the next section, the difference will be discussed between emerging and established technology, and various stages of emergence will be distinguished. In Sect. 3, issues and problems for an...