Introduction
One can frequently hear stories about changes in the way we live caused by information and communication technologies (ICTs). One can frequently hear references to an information “revolution” which would seem to imply that such technologies fundamentally change the way we live (Floridi, 2007, p. 59). The revolution metaphor is taken up and intensified by commercial interest, which emphasise the significance of changes of consumer products. Personal lives become more variable in some respects but also more constrained as more choices are offered and communication is increased.
The changes in technology and their consequences for social and individual lives can be of significant ethical relevance. This means that policy makers who want to take their role as representatives of the people seriously are well advised to think about what those ethical implications might be. This is particularly true on the European level where the Union is often described as a community of values. It would be desirable to embed these ethical values into technology and ensure that they are considered during all stages of the technology life cycle. At the same time, there is the well-established problem that ethical issues could be easily addressed early on during technology design and development but not enough is known about technologies then. Once the social and ethical consequences become clearer, the development of technology is often far advanced and its trajectory is difficult to change (Collingridge, 1981, p. 11). While Collingridge’s argument was developed with a view to the large centralised and largely state-controlled technologies of the 1960s and 1970s (notably nuclear power and military technology), it stands to reason that the Collingridge dilemma may be even more severe in modern ICT-based societies. Understanding of capabilities of emerging technologies in decentralised and profit-oriented technology development settings is limited to very few individuals. These are normally not in a position to engage with societal consequences in any serious form. Diffusion of technology is mostly left to markets, which makes it difficult if not impossible to foresee which technologies are going to be successful and even more difficult to know what the social consequences of wide-spread use will be. These brief thoughts indicate that a more encompassing approach to addressing consequences of technology development is required. The present paper introduces the ethical issues of emerging ICT applications (ETICA) project that aims to contribute to such a broader understanding of the consequences of emerging technologies.
The present paper briefly describes the approach and rationale of the ETICA project. It uses the findings of the project to develop a larger picture of emerging ICTs as well as the ethical issues these are likely to raise. On this basis the paper then looks at the way in which ethical issues are currently addressed in ICT research. It argues that there is a mismatch between the ethical issues one can reasonably predict and the ways currently used to address them. The paper concludes by outlining the recommendations that the ETICA project has developed and mapping them to the concept of responsible innovation. This will show how the ETICA project and its findings can contribute to a more responsible approach to innovation.