Ethics is increasingly recognized as an appropriate topic of research in information systems (IS). There is a long
history of research on ethics and computing going back to the very development of digital computers (Wiener,
1954). Within the field of information systems there are comparatively few examples of papers on ethics but the
overall relevance of ethics in IS seems to be rising, as evidenced by the title of the 2008 International Conference on
Information Systems ("Ethics, Design and Consequences of IT") but also special tracks (e.g. "Researching Ethics in
Information Systems" at the 2008 European Conference on IS) or special issues in top IS journals (e.g. "Researching
Ethics in IS" in the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, to be published in 2009). The scope of ethics
in IS is wide and can include topics such as privacy, intellectual property, employment relationships, design
decisions, or the changing role of humans in society. Many or most aspects of IS are either influenced by ethical
views or they can have an influence on rights, obligations, or utilities