Defining Information Ethics for Today

Contextually, information ethics addresses issues related to rights, regulation, freedom and justice. Conceptually, information ethics is concerned with “the technology of privacy” (Pace, 2004), including “access, ownership… security and community” (Smith, 2001). Technology has facilitated a global information infrastructure, in which policies are grounded more in political expediency than in cultural imperatives. For example, “While librarians continue their struggle at USA Patriot Act defiance in order to protect patron privacy, software companies outside the library market are making millions off government-mandated compliance to all those other sections of the Patriot Act that deal with increased information-sharing and searching for terrorist funding” (Pace). Broadly conceived, information ethics lends itself to both moral and legal interpretations. In reality, the interpretation of information ethics can be conveniently construed to justify a variety of political agendas.

Existing ethical theories provide a framework for considering information access and use.
Applying Moor’s “just-consequentialist framework to cybertechnology” (Tavani, 2004) provides a strategy for developing impartial evaluation criteria to evaluate “ethical policies” (ibid.) and guide implementation of policies that address “specific cyberethics issues” (ibid.) and the effects of those policies on the creation, dissemination, and use of information in a variety of formats. If the global information infrastructure created by “computing and communication technologies” (ibid.) is to function cross-culturally, an objective framework for evaluating all types of information and information-related issues must be available. Since information is shared and has the power to influence, it is necessary to determine the ethical foundation for sharing information resources with others.

For librarians, information ethics is complicated tremendously by cybertechnology and the information resources available for serving patrons. “In the technical realm these days it seems like there are mutually exclusive battles between filtering and unfettered access, between anonymity and personalization, and between system flexibility and technical security against worms, spam, and pop-ups. The very security that protects us has the potential to work against us” (Pace, 2004). Intellectual property protection, copyright and plagiarism and “content-based regulation” (ACLU, 2004) are subject to “the special characteristics of communication in networks” (Johnson, 2004). Cybertechnology and network-based communication alter the dimensions of scope, anonymity, and reproducibility (ibid). Since secure communication can be jeopardized, individual rights can be compromised, information integrity can be threatened, and surveillance can be justified (ibid.). However, according to the ALA Code of Ethics “privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted” (ALA, 1995). To be effective, information ethics must accommodate “core values” (Moor, 2004) within “relative frameworks” (ibid.) that have the capacity to adjust to evolving technology and formats for sharing information. If libraries are to continue as advocates for intellectual freedom, then “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation” (ALA, 1996) or because of the formats in which the information is presented. In order to be faithful to their purpose, libraries must continue to provide access to multiple perspectives, controversial view points, and the open communication of novel ideas.

The American Library Associations clearly interprets the “Library Bill of Rights” as a mandate to provide “access to electronic information, services, and networks” (ALA, 2005). According to this interpretation, “freedom of expression is an inalienable human right and the foundation for self-government. Freedom of expression encompasses the freedom of speech and the corollary right to receive information. Libraries and librarians protect and promote these rights by selecting, producing, providing access to, identifying, retrieving, organizing, providing instruction in the use of, and preserving recorded expression regardless of the format or technology” (ibid.). When “the ethical decision process” (Moor, 2004) is based on intellectual rights, “access to resources and services” (ALA, 2005) cannot be restricted on ethical grounds. Libraries are clearly directed to safeguard access to all types of information and to guard the privacy of users.

In conclusion, according to the American Library Association, libraries are obligated to protect intellectual freedom through written policies that address the access and use of information in all formats. Policy concerns related to “technology, the Internet, and telecommunications” (ALA 2005b) and the “USA Patriot Act of 2001” (ALA, 2006) have inspired ALA committee members to propose a resolution urging “the U.S. Congress to reauthorize a version of the USA Patriot Act (PL 107-56) that safeguards the privacy rights and constitutionally protected civil liberties of all library users and all citizens” (Romans, 2006). The content of the USA Patriot Act 2001 compromises individual privacy and jeopardizes the right to access information through unwarranted surveillance of users and interference with library policies. Without clearly defined and ethically-based criteria, regulation of information amounts to subversion of intellectual freedom and Constitutionally guaranteed rights. While cybertechnology has enabled global information sharing, the basis of information freedom in the U.S. should not be restructured to prevent potentially incriminating information exchange across cultures or within our existing culture on the basis of fickle political interpretations and agendas.



References

American Library Association. (2006). USA Patriot Act 2001. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved January 13, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/civilliberties/theusapatriotact/usapatriotact.htm

American Library Association. (2005a). Interpretations of the library bill of rights. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved January 12, 2006, from
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementsif/interpretations/Default675.htm

American Library Association. (2005b). Technology, the Internet, and telecommunications. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved January 12, 2006, from
http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/techinttele/technologyinternet.htm

American Library Association. (1996). Library bill of rights. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved January 12, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementspolicies.htm

American Library Association Council. (1995). Code of ethics of the American Library American Library Association. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved January 12, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.htm

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). (2004). Fahrenheit 451.2: Is cyberspace burning? How rating and blocking proposals may torch free speech on the Internet. In R.A. Spinello & H.T. Tavani (Eds.). Readings in cyberethics (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Johnson, D.G. (2004). Ethics on-line. In R.A. Spinello & H.T. Tavani (Eds.). Readings in cyberethics (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Moor, J.H. (2004). Reason, relativity, and responsibility in computer ethics. In R.A. Spinello & H.T. Tavani (Eds.). Readings in cyberethics (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Pace, A.K. (2004). The technology of patriotism. American Libraries, 35. Retrieved January 14, 2006 from http://www.ala.org/

Romans, L. (2006, January 12). Resolution on the USA Patriot Act Reauthorization—Draft,
Draft 6. Message posted to GOVDOC-L at http://govdoc-l.org/

Smith, M. (2001). Global information justice: Rights, responsibilities, and caring connections. Library Trends, 49, 519-536.

Tavani, H.T. (2004). Ethics & technology: Ethical issues in an age of information and communication technology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

"A Short Webliography on Computer Ethics for Philosophers"