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This engaging and thought-provoking textbook examines the ethical, social, and policy challenges arising from our rapidly and continuously evolving computing technology, ranging from the Internet to the ubiquitous portable devices we use to access it. The text emphasizes the need for a strong ethical framework for all applications of computer science and engineering in our professional and personal life.This thoroughly revised and updated sixth edition features two new chapters covering online harassment and cyberbullying, and the complex issues introduced by the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT).Topics and features: establishes a philosophical framework and analytical tools for discussing moral theories and problems in ethical relativism; offers pertinent discussions on privacy, surveillance, employee monitoring, biometrics, civil liberties, harassment, the digital divide, and discrimination; examines the ethical, cultural and economic realities of mobile telecommunications, computer social network ecosystems, and virtualization technology; reviews issues of property rights, responsibility and accountability relating to information technology and software; explores the evolution of electronic crime, network security, and computer forensics; introduces the new frontiers of ethics: virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the Internet; discusses the security quagmire of the IoT, and the growing threat of bullying facilitated by electronic technology (NEW); provides exercises, objectives, and issues for discussion with every chapter.This extensive textbook/reference addresses the latest curricula requirements for understanding the cultural, social, legal, and ethical issues in computer science and related fields, and offers invaluable advice for industry professionals wishing to put such principles into practice.

The frequency of new editions of this book is indicative of the rapid and trem- dous changes in the fields of computer and information sciences. First published in 1995, the book has rapidly gone through three editions already and now we are in the fourth. Over this period, we have become more dependent on computer and telecommunication technology than ever before and computer technology has become ubiquitous. Since I started writing on social computing, I have been ad- cating a time when we, as individuals and as nations, will become totally dependent on computing technology. That time is almost on us. Evidence of this is embodied in the rapid convergence of telecommunication, broadcasting, and computing devices; the miniaturization of these devices; and the ever increasing storage capacity, speed of computation, and ease of use. These qualities have been a big pulling force sucking in millions of new users every day, sometimes even those unwilling. Other appealing features of these devices are the increasing number of applications, apps, as they are increasingly becoming known, and being wireless and easily portable. Whether small or big, these new gizmos have become the c- terpiece of an individual's social and economic activities and the main access point for all information. Individuals aside, computing technology has also become the engine that drives the nations'strategic and security infrastructures that control power grids, gas and oil storage facilities, transportation, and all forms of national communication, including emergency services.

viii As we look for such a strategy, technological development races on with new technologies that make our efforts and existing technologies on which they are based obsolete in shorter and shorter periods. For example, when I started to write the first edition in 1996, computer networking and associated computer network security were not big, the Internet and associated d- coms were yet to become commercialized and associated with big money, and mass global computer network attacks like “Malissa”, “Love Boy”, and Distributed Denial of Services (DDOS) were unknown. All these illustrate the speed at which the computing environment is changing and demonstrate a need for continuous review of the computer s- ence education in both content and pedagogy. So the focus in this edition is to address those changes. In this edition, I have made major changes in some of the chapters, reorganized others, and added new ones to bring the book update with current issues.

This anthology brings together multiple viewpoints on the social dimensions of the revolution in information technology. The chapters cover social, political, educational, personal, and international dimensions of information technology impacts. Each chapter focuses on different aspects of the effects of computing and the new information technologies that have accelerated every area of human life. The book raises important issues with profound implications for public policy and societal development.