Contemporary Issues in Ethics and Information Technology

Information technology has produced new ethical challenges and concerns in dealing with issues about privacy, security, piracy and professional ethics. Contemporary Issues in Ethics and Information Technology discusses these issues as well as other important ethical issues such as the outsourcing of high-level jobs and the value of IT itself. The main framework for ethical problems used in Contemporary Issues in Ethics and Information Technology is derived from the work of the late philosopher John Rawls. Rawls' contribution to ethics was a theory of justice rooted in the social contract theory of the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution. The author's discussion of the value of IT also builds on the views of the philosopher, Martin Heidegger, on modern technology as an independent force in human existence with its own point-of-view. This book provides guidance for IT professionals and users for practical ethical problems.

Information technology has produced new ethical challenges and concerns in dealing with issues about privacy, security, piracy and professional ethics. Contemporary Issues in Ethics and Information Technology discusses these issues.

Robert A. Schultz received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1971. His dissertation in ethics was under the direction of John Rawls. He was a member of the philosophy faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Cornell University, and the University of Southern California, taught courses and published articles and reviews in the fields of ethics, logic, and aesthetics. In 1980 he assumed the position of Data Processing Manager at A-Mark Precious Metals, a Forbes 500 company, then in Beverly Hills, CA. Since 1989, he has been Professor of Computer Information Systems (recently renamed Information Technology) and Director of Academic Computing at Woodbury University, Burbank, CA. He regularly teaches courses in database applications and design, systems development tools, and the management of information technology. He has numerous publications and has made numerous presentations in the areas of database design, I.T. education, and the philosophy of technology.