Moral issues in information science

B.J. Kostrewski and C. Oppenheim , Ethics in information science, Journal of Information Science 1 ( 1980) 227-283.

R. Capurro , Zur Frage der Ethik in Fachinformation und -kommunikation , Nachrichten für Dokumentation 32 (1) (1981) 9-12.

Cf., C. Cuadra , Ed., Directory of Online Databases, Vol. 5 ( Santa Monica, CA, 1983).

A. Gilchrist , Editorial, Journal of Information Science 1 (1980) 247.

N.J. Belkin and S.E. Robertson , Some ethical and political implications of theoretical research in information science, paper presented at ASIS Annual Meeting , 1976.

Together with the article by Kostrewski and Oppenheim, two other contributions in the same issue of the Journal of Information Science deal with problems of information in the third world: A.M. Woodward, Future information requirements of the third world, pp. 259-265, and, B.V. Tell, The awakening information needs of the developing countnes, pp. 285-289.

A. Gilchrist commented on the interrelations between the three papers with the following words: "A journalist writing recently remarked that 'Information is wealth; rapid and wide access to information is power', and this is perhaps one of the more interesting and more intractable problems underlying the ethical aspects for the Information Society, and those engaged in peddling information. This is highlighted particularly in connection with the 'information gap' between the industrial countnes and the Third World—which is touched on in the paper by Kostrewski and Oppenheim, and which underlies the papers by Woodward and by Tell, also in this issue. At this level, it is difficult to distinguish between ethics as a way of lifte and ethics as a professional code—and yet the two are obviously related" [4].

Cf., L.F. Lunin, B.K. Eres, Eds., Perspectives on international information issues, J. ASIS (May 1985) 143-199; and, J. Conquy Beer-Gabel , Information du Tiers Monde et Coopération Internationale (Paris, La Doc. Francaise 1984).

Cf., M.E.D. Koenig , Ethics in information science, Journal of Information Science 3 ( 1981) 45-48.

Cf., A. Diemer , Klassifikation, Thesaurus und was dann? Nachrichten fur Dokumentation 23 (2) (1972) 52-57.

N. Henrichs , Informationswissenschaft und Wissensorganisation, W. Kunz , Ed., Informationswissenschaft. ( Oldenbourg, Munchen, 1978) 150-169.

J. Ladd. The quest for a code of professional ethics: an intellectual and moral confusion, in, Deborah G. Johnson and J.W. Snapper. Eds., Ethical Issues in the Use of Computers (Wadsworth, Belmont, 1985) 8-13.

Stephan Schwarz , Research, integrity and privacy. Notes on a conceptual complex, Social Science Information 18 (1) (1979) 103-136.

J. Weizenbaum , Computer Power and Human Reason ( Freeman, San Francisco, CA, 1976 ).

S. Schwarz [11, pp.104-105].

Op. cit., p. 106.

Op. cit., p. 109.

Cf., R. Capurro, Technics, Ethics, and the Question of Phenomenology, paper presented at the XVIIth International Phenomenology Conference (Theme: "Morality within the Life World") Frankfurt, 21-26 June, 1985. Proceedings to be published in: Analecta Husserliana (Reidel, Dordrecht/Boston). My paper is based on an analysis of: Gilbert Hottois, Le Signe et la Technique (Paris, 1984).

Manfred Kochen , Information and society, in; Martha E. Williams , Annual Rev. Sci. Techn. 18 (1983) 277-304. For further issues see: Bruce Williams , The information society—how different? Aslib Proceedings 37 (1985); Michael Marien , Some questions for the information society, The Information Society 3 (1984) 181-197; Susan Artandi : Computerized information systems—implica— tions for society, in: K.R. Brown, ed., The Challenge of Information Technology, FID Congress, 1982, (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1983) 93-97; Jack Meadows , Social limitations on the use of new information technology, Journal of Information Science 6 ( 1983) 11-20; James D. Halloran , Information and communication: information is the answer, but what is the question? Journal of Information Science 7 (1983) 159-167.

Op. cit., p. 281.

Donna A. Demac , Keeping America Uninformed, Government Secrecy in the 1980s (The Pilgrim Press, New York, 1984). For a review of the literature on this subject see my report: Schutzt die Einschränkung des wissenschaftlichtechnischen Informationstransfers die US-'National Security'? (FIZ-KA---3, 1982).

G. Russel Pipe , Transborder data flow: main issues, trends and impacts on international business, in: Juan F. Rada and G. Russel Pipe, Eds., Communication Regulation and International Business, Proceedings of a Workshop held at the International Management Institute (IMI), Geneva, Switzerland, April 1983 (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1984) 49.

Manfred Kochen , Impacts of microcomputers on information use patterns, in, Carl Keren and Linda Perlmutter, Eds., The Application of Mini- and Micro-Computers in Information, Documentation and Libraries, Proceedings Tel-Aviv, Israel, March 13-18, 1983 (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1983) 470.

N. Henrichs , Welcoming address, in: Carl Keren et al. [21, pp.5-7].

Cf., J. Michel , Linguistic and political barriers in the international transfer of information in science and technology, Journal of Information Science 5 (4) (1982) 131-135; and the discussion of the arguments by Jim Davies, Linguistic and political barriers in the intemational transfer of information in science and technology: A reinterpretation, Journal of Information Science 6 ( 1983) 179-181.

Victor Rosenberg , Cultural and political traditions and their impact on the transfer and use of scientific information, Information Services & Use 1 ( 1981) 75-80.

Cf. [6].

Isaac L. Auerbach , Professional responsibility for information privacy. Information Systems Management 2 (1985) 77-81: "The price that concerns me, and should concern you, is the forfeiture of individual freedom through the loss of privacy.... I am increasingly concerned ahout the totalitarian potential of centralized data banks. As information management professionals, you are the experts in computer security, and with this knowledge you must act as if the private rights of individuals throughout the world depend on you—because they do. A professional ethic that directly concerns the safety and well-being of the public applies here." (p. 81). Cf., G. Salton , A progress report on information privacy and data security, J. Amer. Soc. Inf. Science (March, 1980) 75-83; cf., David H. Flaherty, ed., Privacy and Data Protection - An International Bibliography (Mansell, 1984).

Julia C. Blixurd and Edmond J. Sawyer , A code of ethics for ASIS. The challenge before us, ASIS Bulletin (October, 1984) 8-10.

Cf., Harold Borko and Charles L. Bernier , Indexing Concepts and Methods (Academic Press, New York, 1978) 223-226.

Cf., B. Childress , Ethics in Database Searching, Online '83 Conference Proceedings, Chicago, IL, 10-12 October, 1983, pp. 11-14.

Cf., Newsidic 52 (March, 1982).

Cf., Cicero, De fato 1.

Bertrand Russell , Outline of Philosophy ( Unwin, London, 1979) 180.

Cf., Stephen E. Toulmin , An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics (Cambridge, 1968).

Cf., Aristotle's Prior and Posterior Analytics, a revised text with introduction and commentary by W.D. Ross (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1949) 25.

Cf., Hans-Georg Gadamer. Uber die Möglichkeit einer philosophischen Ethik, in: Kleine Schriften I (Mohr, Tubingen, 1967) 179-191.

Cf., Stephan Schwarz, On responsibility in planning and decisionmaking, report TRITA-LIB-6006, May 1977, p. 275.

Cf. [16].

Cf., K.O. Apel , Die Kommunikationsgemeinschaft als transzendentale Voraussetzung der Sozialwissenschaften, in: Transformation der Philosophie (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt , 1976).

Cf., J. Habermas , Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1981).

Cf., G. Vowe , Information und Kommunikation ( Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen, 1984 ).

Cf., E. Lévinas , Totalité et Infini (Martinus Nijhoff. The Hague, 1969).

Cf., Charles L. Bernier , Ethics of knowmg, J. Amer. Soc. Inf. Science (May 1985) 211-212.