Ethics in the Information Age

Abstract

Most Internet users love what they can do with it; access information on any conceivable topic at almost the speed of light. It is enormously useful at making everyday life easier, but there is also the dark side. Spies, paedophiles and drug dealers; a whole cast of shadowy figures lurking in virtual back alleys. George Orwell’s dystopian vision of 1984 seems prescient; governments and others now have a window into almost everything we do. Our public and private lives open to scrutiny. It conjures the unsavoury image of a voyeur peering in at one’s window, camera in hand.