Social and Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution

Citation

Karake, Z.A. (1999), "Social and Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution", Logistics Information Management, Vol. 12 No. 1/2, pp. 330-330. https://doi.org/10.1108/lim.1999.12.1_2.330.1

This book consists of an introduction (by Joseph Migga Kizza), and 24 other chapters contributed by 27 (some are well‐known, others are less known) authors. Even though the book was compiled to give insights into the influences and effects of computer technology on society, the focus was on highlighting the need for responsible information management and computer security issues in a variety of areas. It is structured in a way to give broad coverage of those areas where information management and computer security are of utmost importance; i.e. education, medical care, communication, business, law enforcement, the courts, and the government. In terms of computer security, the book identifies those sectors constituting weak targets such as financial institutions, high‐tech microprocessor chips, and national defense.

The book is targeted at a wide audience and it consists of six sections, each of which is broken down into chapters that attempt to give as broad a coverage as possible of the area under discussion. Those sections are: education; ethics; technology and value; software reliability and computer security; the professional and the workplace issues; artificial intelligence and cyberspace; and morality, security and privacy.

Although I found this to be an interesting and well‐compiled book, and one with which I am generally in agreement, I do have a couple of criticisms. In fairness, these are more with respect to what the editor has not done. The most important thing that he has not done, as far as I can tell, is provide an explicit discussion of recent theoretical foundations of ethics and security. The omission of such a coverage leaves the reader with a sense of fragmentation. My second reservation, which can be put in a form of question: where do we go from here? As exemplified by the failure to discuss recent theoretical foundations of ethics and security, there is not much here for people looking for solutions to their ethical and computer security problems.

Overall, this is a book that raises more questions than it provides answers. Many of its chapters make an elaborate and complicated argument about the nature of computer security and ethics issues, stopping short of providing an agenda for action. Even with these qualifications, this book must be admired for its scope and breadth of coverage and, above all, for the tenaciousness with which the authors pursue their arguments. It is hoped that the many unanswered questions in the book would stimulate research into this very important and timely topic of ethics and security.