Information Privacy in a Surveillance State

This chapter examines information privacy as manifested and understood in Thai society. Multidisciplinary perspectives—philosophical, anthropological, historical, legal, policy oriented, and communicative—are used to explore information privacy, which arguably is emerging as an ethic in Thailand. While the diffusion of ICTs along with the country’s aspiration toward an information society may have given rise to this conceptual emergence, the longstanding surveillance that characterizes the Thai state is reckoned to be a major hindrance to a meaningful realization of this ethic in Thai society.

Invisibility and the Ethics of Digitalization

The diversity of knowledge is crucial for finding credible and sustainable alternatives for living together. Yet, a preoccupation with content and connectivity obscures the role of information technology by making invisible different ways of knowing and other logics and experiences. How do we deal with diversity and difference in information technology? In this chapter, two cases are explored in which dealing with difference is a particular political and ethical concern. The designs of Indymedia, an Internet-based alternative media network, and TAMI, an Aboriginal database, are informed by the confrontations over different ways of knowing. They translate difference without sacrificing diversity, providing clues for building credible and sustainable design alternatives that will not hurt others.

Online Communities, Democratic Ideals, and the Digital Divide

We examine some pros and cons of online communities with respect to two main questions: (1) Do online communities promote democracy and democratic ideals? and (2) What are the implications of online communities for information justice and the digital divide? The first part of the chapter will examine online communities in general and will attempt to define what we mean by “community” and more precisely, “online communities.” It will then examine ways of building online communities, that is, what brings people together online. The second part of the chapter will look at the positive and negative contributions of online communities in light of democratic ideals and will address the issue of information justice and the digital divide. In examining these questions, we also consider the effects of the Internet for community life at both the local and global levels.

Analysis and Justification of Privacy from a Buddhist Perspective

The perspective of various Buddhist traditions offers an illuminating insight into the nature and justification of the concept of privacy in information ethics. This chapter begins by outlining the major literature in the West that deals with the issue. What has emerged in the literature is a common assumption of a separately existing individual whose privacy needs to be protected. Then I present the thoughts of two Buddhist thinkers, Nagasena (1894) and Nagarjuna (1995), who are representatives of the two major traditions: Theravada and Mahayana, respectively. The two Buddhist saints agree that the concept of privacy is a construct, since it presupposes the inherently existing individual, which runs contrary to the basic Buddhist tenet of no-self. However, this does not mean that there can be no analysis and justification of privacy in Buddhism, because there is the distinction between two views regarding reality—the conventional and the ultimate views. Both are indispensable.

Privacy and Property in the Global Datasphere

Adoption of information technologies is dependent upon the availability of information to be channeled via such technologies. Although many cultural approaches to information control have been identified, two increasingly ubiquitous regimes are battling for dominance in the international arena. These may be termed the utilitarian and deontological approaches and may be identified roughly with the United States and the continental European tradition. Each approach has been aggressively promulgated by its respective proponent via international treaty regimes in the areas of privacy and intellectual property, to the virtual exclusion of other alternatives. Absent a drastic shift in international treaty dynamics, these dominant conceptions likely will curtail the development of alternate approaches that might otherwise emerge from local culture and tradition.

Mobile Phone and Autonomy

This chapter is to offer a critical study of what the human living condition would be like in a new era of hi-tech mobilization, especially the condition of self-government or autonomy, and how, in the Thai perspective, the condition affects culture. Habermas’ analysis of individuation through socialization and Heidegger’s question concerning technology and being are used in the study, and it is revealed that we are now confronted with a new technological condition of positioned individuals in the universe of communication through mobile phones. This situation surely will be realized in a world highly mobilized by the phenomenon of connectedness. This means that we are concerning ourselves with our concrete individuality for our self-expression in that universe. I offer an interpretation that we would hold this kind of individuality to be valuable because of an effect from technological thinking. In addition, comparing this view on individuality with Buddhism, I found that the view offered here is not similar to the Buddhist concept of self as a construction. I offer an argument to show that these concepts are basically different for ethical reasons; while the Buddhist concept still preserves the nobility of the moral agent (Buddhism, after all, is a religion and needs to concern itself with morality), the concrete individuality discussed here is considered only as an instrumental value in a world of hi-tech mobilization.

The Existential Significance of the Digital Divide for America's Historically Underserved Populations

During the 1990s, the digital divide figured prominently in the discourses of academics, corporate leaders, educators, and policymakers worldwide. In the U.S., we witnessed a massive infusion of computers and Internet access in homes, schools, libraries, and other neighborhood institutions. This has significantly increased citizens’ physical access to information and communication technology (ICT) artifacts and has enhanced citizens’ opportunities for acquiring and strengthening technical skills. However, does increased physical access and technical skills signal closure of the digital divide? In this chapter, I address this question by describing the preconstructed ways in which the digital divide is conceptualized by academics and policymakers, and inferring what these conceptualizations suggest about the existential significance of the digital divide as experienced by historically underserved groups in the U.S.

We Cannot Eat Data

Computer ethicists foresee that as information and communication technology (ICT) increasingly pervades more and more aspects of life, ethical issues increasingly will be computer-related. This view is underpinned by the assumption that progress is linear and inevitable. In accordance with this assumption, ICT is promoted as an essential component of development. This notion ignores the cultural origin of computing. Computer technology is a product of the Western worldview, and consequently, the computer revolution is experienced differently by people in different parts of the world. The computer revolution not only threatens to marginalize non-Western cultural traditions, but the Western way of life also has caused large-scale environmental damage. This chapter argues that computer ethics has to critically analyze the links between computing and its effects on cultural diversity and the natural environment and proposes that the Earth Charter can function as a framework for such holistic research.

Interactions among Thai Culture, ICT, and IT Ethics

Information is important to humans because without information, no task can be performed. Therefore, information and communication technology (ICT) was invented and implemented to serve the needs of people. This facility has both positive and negative impacts on Thai society. However, it is generally the information technology ethics of the user that determines the direction of use of the technology. This chapter presents the relations among Thai culture, ICT, and IT ethics, in which all impacts are considered and described. The discussion in this chapter indicates that there are various factors related to development of IT ethics, but the one main factor is family background. Thus, in order to increase the IT ethics of users in an ICT world, the proposed solution in this chapter is to create a strong family and instruct children in their religion. Although this method is long-term, the outcome is worth the wait.

The Moral Status of Information and Information Technologies

The purpose of this chapter is to explore whether information and information technology in certain cases ought to be valued as ends in themselves rather than as mere means to other ends. I will address this problem by proposing a theory of moral status: a theory of who or what has moral status in the sense that we, as moral agents, have an obligation to take their well-being into consideration when making ethical judgments. The proposed relational theory of moral status draws on insights from both classical Western and East Asian philosophy in order to question the exclusion of all nonliving entities in most theories of moral status. The relational properties constitutivity and irreplaceability are singled out as ethically relevant and are suggested as one possible way to ground the moral status of information and information technologies.