What are digital Ethics?
The development towards a digital society, which is ‘always on’, thus increasingly interacting digitally, implies a gain not only in communicative freedom, but also in responsibility. The way I behave in a digital world, which attitude I have, and the way I handle conflicts is an expression of my personal ethos and my ability to reflect. The phenomena of cyberbullying and hate speech, big data and the algorithmization of behaviour, opinions and identities are reminders of the fact that technical knowledge alone is not sufficient for handling media. There is also a need for orientation and a strong set of values in order to be able to navigate the online world responsibly.
This ensues challenges that cannot be tackled without digital ethics in the following areas:
- Big Data and privacy
- Abusive communication behaviour online
- Manipulation and information selection
- Hazard potential through media content
- Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things
- Ambient/Virtual Reality
From a digital ethics perspective, this raises the question of how we should deal with these new conditions and requirements for responsibility.
How can we achieve a culture of fairness in the digital world?
