Morten Bay

This paper explores public technology policies through the lens of political philosopher John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness. Using a Rawlsian lens to analyze national policies in cases pertaining to technology-related policies in the U.S., China and to a lesser extent, Russia, the author shows how utilitarian approaches to regulation of social media and other technologies may create unfair and unethical conditions. In two cases where national security concerns motivate surveillance and censorship of social media and personal, electronic devices in both the U.S. and China, it is shown that the technology policies in question enable infringements upon individuals’ rights to privacy, freedom of expression and access to information. The specific policies are thus shown to be in direct conflict with Rawlsian ethics, as is the paternalism revealed by the strategy used to communicate them to the public. The author uses Rawls’ criticism of utilitarianism to show how these rights viol...

The proposed paper presents an argument in favor of a Rawlsian approach to ethics for Internet technology companies (den Hoven & Rooksby, 2008; Hoffman, 2017). Ethics statements from such companies are analyzed and shown to be utilitarian and teleological in nature, and therefore in opposition to Rawls’ theories of justice and fairness. The statements are also shown to have traits in common with Confucian virtue ethics (Ames, 2011; Nylan, 2008).

The word ‘cybersecurity’ is widely used as a term for protection against malware and hacker attacks. It is often used situationally, in the sense that an individual’s connected devices can be under attack, a corporation can be hacked or government-run, essential infrastructure can be at risk of attack. But it seems that the broadness of the term may have made an exploration of the theoretical aspects of cybersecurity difficult. Not many attempts have been made to understand cybersecurity from a higher level of abstraction. In this paper, it is stated that the broadness of the term is indeed appropriate, as French Journal For Media Research – n° 6/2016 – ISSN 2264-4733 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 cybersecurity is a multi-faceted phenomenon which nonetheless can be analyzed theoretically across all levels. The meaning of the term is explored further and an attempt to widen and deepen its reach as a concept is made. Cybersecurity...

ABSTRACT Academics, style manual editors and others have recently pushed for an elimination of the capitalisation of the word “internet”. This choice may have consequences that reach far beyond language and spelling, as it lends authority to the claim that there could be more than one “internet”, which in turn is based on a historical narrative that is not necessarily accurate. By first exploring the meaning of the word “internet” and subsequently tracing its origins, this article shows how “internet” evolved from an adjective describing a class of networking activities into a proper noun defining the foundation of the current “internet” as early as 1976. It is shown how the use of “internet” as a common noun emerges post-hoc and may have commercial origins rather than historical. The article concludes by showing how both the current, popular, broad definition of “internet”, as well as its historical roots, make the plural use of the term impossible, and why it should only be considered a proper noun, written as Internet.

Inspired by the 2016 case of the encrypted Apple iPhone used by alleged terrorists in the San Bernardino, Calif. attack, this paper explores the question of whether the use of completely unbreakable encryption online or off-line would be considered ethical by the political philosopher John Rawls. Rawls is widely acknowledged as having played an important role in how we perceive freedom and liberty in Western democracies today, and his work on justice, fairness and liberty appears to be a great source of knowledge for politicians, policy-makers and activists. Several recent events and threats to national security of a technological nature have raised ethical questions about the relationship between state and citizen and how technological power should be divided between these two parties, particularly when it comes to the right to privacy. However, in contrast with a wide-spread perception of Rawls’ work, this article shows that there are cases in which Rawls’ principles actually plac...

Purpose As interest in technology ethics is increasing, so is the interest in bringing schools of ethics from non-Western philosophical traditions to the field, particularly when it comes to information and communication technology. In light of this development and recent publications that result from it, this paper aims to present responds critically to recent work on Confucian virtue ethics (CVE) and technology. Design/methodology/approach Four critiques are presented as theoretical challenges to CVE in technology, claiming that current literature insufficiently addresses: overall applicability, collective ethics issues, epistemic overconfidence within technology corporations and amplification of epistemic overconfidence by the implementation of CVE. These challenges make use of general CVE literature and work on technology critique, political philosophy, epistemology and business ethics. Findings Implementing CVE in technology may yield some benefits, but these may be outweighed ...

Targeted social media advertising based on psychometric user profiling has emerged as an effective way of reaching individuals who are predisposed to accept and be persuaded by the advertising message. This article argues that in the case of political advertising, this may present a democratic and ethical challenge. Hypertargeting methods such as psychometrics can “crowd out” political communication with opposing views due to individual attention and time limitations, creating inequities in the access to information essential for voting decisions. The use of psychometrics also appears to have been used to spread both information and misinformation through social media in recent elections in the U.S. and Europe. This article is an applied ethics study of these methods in the context of democratic processes and compared to purely commercial situations. The ethical approach is based on the theoretical, contractarian work of John Rawls, which serves as a lens through which the author ex...

Political discourse on social media is seen by many as polarized, vitriolic and permeated by falsehoods and misinformation. Political operators have exploited all of these aspects of the discourse for strategic purposes, most famously during the Russian social media influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election in the United States and current, similar efforts targeting the U.S. elections in 2018 and 2020. The results of the social media study presented in this paper presents evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture. Specifically, this study examines a collection of tweets relating to a much-publicized fan dispute over the Star Wars franchise film Episode VII: The Last Jedi. This study finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments. The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage ...

AoIR and the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society (JICES) share common interests in critical reflection on the ethical and social dimensions of the internet and internet-facilitated communication, and have begun a collaboration aimed at collecting ethically-focused AoIR conference submissions for presentation and critique at AoIR, with a view towards subsequent publication in a special issue of JICES. This panel collects four papers exploring especially the legal and ethical dimensions of new technologies, including data collection and storage as public goods vis-à-vis central questions of justice (Paper 1, Towards a Political Theory of Data Justice: A Public Good Perspective); critiques from Western and non-Western positions of the utilitarianism otherwise driving the platforms’ business models and rationales (Paper 2, Google and Facebook VS Rawls and Lao-Tsu: How Silicon Valley’s utilitarianism and Confucianism are bad for Internet ethics); basic tensions be...

Purpose-As interest in technology ethics is increasing, so is the interest in bringing schools of ethics from non-Western philosophical traditions to the field, particularly when it comes to information and communication technology. In light of this development and recent publications that result from it, this paper aims to present responds critically to recent work on Confucian virtue ethics (CVE) and technology. Design/methodology/approach-Four critiques are presented as theoretical challenges to CVE in technology, claiming that current literature insufficiently addresses: overall applicability, collective ethics issues, epistemic overconfidence within technology corporations and amplification of epistemic overconfidence by the implementation of CVE. These challenges make use of general CVE literature and work on technology critique, political philosophy, epistemology and business ethics. Findings-Implementing CVE in technology may yield some benefits, but these may be outweighed by other outcomes, include strengthening hierarchies, widening inequities, increasing, rather than limiting, predictive activity, personal data collection, misinformation, privacy violations and challenges to the democratic process. Originality/value-Though not directly advocating against CVE, the paper reveals hitherto unidentified and serious issues that should be addressed before CVE are used to inform ethics guidelines or regulatory policies. It also serves as a foundation for further inquiry into how Eastern philosophy more broadly can inform technology ethics in the West.

This paper explores public technology policies through the lens of political philosopher John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness. Using a Rawlsian lens to analyze national policies in cases pertaining to technology-related policies in the U.S., China and to a lesser extent, Russia, the author shows how utilitarian approaches to regulation of social media and other technologies may create unfair and unethical conditions. In two cases where national security concerns motivate surveillance and censorship of social media and personal, electronic devices in both the U.S. and China, it is shown that the technology policies in question enable infringements upon individuals’ rights to privacy, freedom of expression and access to information. The specific policies are thus shown to be in direct conflict with Rawlsian ethics, as is the paternalism revealed by the strategy used to communicate them to the public. The author uses Rawls’ criticism of utilitarianism to show how these rights violations may at least partially be a result of policies borne out of a utilitarian approach, and that using Rawlsian deontology as an alternative framework may lead to more just and fair policy alternatives. The same approach is then applied to a third case, the conflict between the speed of technological development and the slower process of regulating and constructing policies for technology. The Rawlsian approach is once again shown as a viable alternative to the dominant utilitarianism, and it is argued that the price of a slower pace of technological development may be worth paying for a more just and fair interplay between technology and society.

Political discourse on social media is seen by many as polarized, vitriolic and permeated by falsehoods and misinformation. Political operators have exploited all of these aspects of the discourse for strategic purposes, most famously during the Russian social media influence campaign during the 2016 Presidential election in the United States and current, similar efforts targeting the U.S. elections in 2018 and 2020. The results of the social media study presented in this paper presents evidence that political influence through manipulation of social media discussions is no longer exclusive to political debate but can now also be found in pop culture. Specifically, this study examines a collection of tweets relating to a much-publicized fan dispute over the Star Wars franchise film Episode VII: The Last Jedi. The study finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments. The likely objective of these measures is increasing media coverage of the fandom conflict, thereby adding to and further propagating a narrative of widespread discord and dysfunction in American society. Persuading voters of this narrative remains a strategic goal for the U.S. alt-right movement, as well as the Russian Federation. The results of the study show that among those who address The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson directly on Twitter to express their dissatisfaction, more than half are bots, trolls/sock puppets or political activists using the debate to propagate political messages supporting extreme right-wing causes and the discrimination of gender, race or sexuality. A number of these users appear to be Russian trolls. The paper concludes that while it is only a minority of Twitter accounts that tweet negatively about The Last Jedi, organized attempts at politicizing the pop culture discourse on social media for strategic purposes are significant enough that users should be made aware of these measures, so they can act accordingly.

Targeted social media advertising based on psychometric user profiling has emerged as an effective way of reaching individuals who are predisposed to accept and be persuaded by the advertising message. In the political realm, the use of psychometrics appears to have been used to spread both information and misinformation through social media in recent elections in the U.S. and Europe, partially resulting in the current, public debate about 'fake news'. This paper questions the ethics of these methods, both in a commercial context and in the context of democratic processes. The ethical approach is based on the theoretical, contractarian work of John Rawls which serves as a lens through which the author examines whether the rights of citizens, as Rawls attributes them, are violated by this practice. The paper concludes that within a Rawlsian framework, use of psychometrics in commercial advertising on social media platforms is not necessarily unethical, since the user enters freely into a contract that allows for psychometrics to be used, and because this type of advertising is not necessary for full participation in society. The opposite is the case for political information, and thus, the paper concludes that use of psychometrics in political campaigning violates several of Rawls' ethical maxims.

Inspired by the 2016 case of the encrypted Apple iPhone used by alleged terrorists in the San Bernardino, Calif. attack, this paper explores the question of whether the use of completely unbreakable encryption online or off­line would be considered ethical by the political philosopher John Rawls. Rawls is widely acknowledged as having played an important role in how we perceive freedom and liberty in Western democracies today, and his work on justice, fairness and liberty appears to be a great source of knowledge for politicians, policy­makers and activists. Several recent events and threats to national security of a technological nature have raised ethical questions about the relationship between state and citizen and how technological power should be divided between these two parties, particularly when it comes to the right to privacy. However, in contrast with a wide­spread perception of Rawls' work, this article shows that there are cases in which Rawls' principles actually place a limitation on liberty in these matters. This paper presents a thought experiment in which it becomes clear that Rawls' advocacy for liberty did not extend to cases in which social cooperation in a well­ ordered society would be obstructed. Based on a study of Rawls' work, the author concludes that whereas Rawls would consider strong encryption both necessary and ethical, completely unbreakable encryption would be considered a violation of social cooperation and thus indefensible for Rawls.

The word ‘cybersecurity’ is widely used as a term for protection against malware and hacker attacks. It is often used situationally, in the sense that an individual’s connected devices can be under attack, a corporation can be hacked or government-run, essential infrastructure can be at risk of attack. But it seems that the broadness of the term may have made an exploration of the theoretical aspects of cybersecurity difficult. Not many attempts have been made to understand cybersecurity from a higher level of abstraction. In this paper, it is stated that the broadness of the term is indeed appropriate, as cybersecurity is a multi-faceted phenomenon which nonetheless can be analyzed theoretically across all levels. The meaning of the term is explored further and an attempt to widen and deepen its reach as a concept is made. Cybersecurity is explored from a critical security studies angle as well as a critical theory angle. A distinction of the term from related concepts such as information security and computer security is put forward, and a taxonomy of cybersecurity is suggested. It is concluded that cybersecurity must necessarily be analyzed critically in order to fully understand the impacts and implications it has as a phenomenon, but that this analysis will inevitably lead to a multi-faceted, yet meaningful result.

Targeted social media advertising based on psychometric user profiling has emerged as an effective way of reaching individuals who are predisposed to accept and be persuaded by the advertising message. In the political realm, the use of psychometrics appears to have been used to spread both information and misinformation through social media in recent elections in the U.S. and Europe, partially resulting in the current, public debate about 'fake news'. This paper questions the ethics of these methods, both in a commercial context and in the context of democratic processes. The ethical approach is based on the theoretical, contractarian work of John Rawls which serves as a lens through which the author examines whether the rights of citizens, as Rawls attributes them, are violated by this practice. The paper concludes that within a Rawlsian framework, use of psychometrics in commercial advertising on social media platforms is not necessarily unethical, since the user enters freely into a contract that allows for psychometrics to be used, and because this type of advertising is not necessary for full participation in society. The opposite is the case for political information, and thus, the paper concludes that use of psychometrics in political campaigning violates several of Rawls' ethical maxims.

In this paper, I shall attempt to provide evidence that the relatively new field of New Materialisms may hold the key to meeting the challenge of global inequality in networked information system access. New Materialisms thinking provides a new set of ontological and epistemological tools that I argue can be of great benefit to the objective of providing equal access to critical information on a global scale, and to solving the practical, economic, and cultural challenges this objective. The main objective of this paper, however, is not to present a final solution to this problem, but to put forth an argument that suggests and encourages further research into the field, seen through the prism of New Materialisms. I shall present this argument by first describing the inequality challenge at hand as seen by major thinkers in the Information Studies field, including results of concrete, ethnographic studies presented by these researchers. I will then move on to presenting the key concepts of New Materialisms as this particular viewpoint has emerged in recent years, referencing the leading thinkers currently contributing to the field. Finally, this paper will conclude with an argument utilizing the aspects of New Materialisms that I believe are convincing epistemological and ontological tools in the quest to widen access to networked information sources in areas that are currently disenfranchised in this matter, compared to other areas.