Digital Media Ethics

The original edition of this accessible and interdisciplinary textbook was the first to consider the ethical issues of digital media from a global, cross-cultural perspective.

  This third edition has been thoroughly updated to incorporate the latest research and developments, including the rise of Big Data, AI, and the Internet of Things. The book’s case studies and pedagogical material have also been extensively revised and updated to include such watershed events as the Snowden revelations, #Gamergate, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, privacy policy developments, and the emerging Chinese Social Credit System.

New sections include “Death Online,” “Slow/Fair Technology”, and material on sexbots. The “ethical toolkit” that introduces prevailing ethical theories and their applications to the central issues of privacy, copyright, pornography and violence, and the ethics of cross-cultural communication online, has likewise been revised and expanded. Each topic and theory are interwoven throughout the volume with detailed sets of questions, additional resources, and suggestions for further research and writing. Together, these enable readers to foster careful reflection upon, writing about, and discussion of these issues and their possible resolutions.

Retaining its student- and classroom-friendly approach, Digital Media Ethics will continue to be the go-to textbook for anyone getting to grips with this important topic.

Review

"Knowledge, skills, ethical judgment, and indeed wisdom to cope with our existence mediated by digital media and technologies are needed more than ever today, when there are so many worries about new possibilities for surveillance, unjust discrimination and threats to democracy. How can the good life be achieved now? And how can societies address these threats? Updated with contemporary real-world cases and examples such as Cambridge Analytica and references to recent literature, this new edition of Charles Ess's well-known textbook offers tools to help us think about the good life in this age in a way that is critical, pluralist, and sensitive to cultural variation in how we think about ethics."Mark Coeckelbergh, University of Vienna The third edition of Digital Media Ethics is a truly exemplary work of pedagogy. Combining startling clarity and accessibility with cultural nuance and philosophical depth, it's an irresistible invitation to students to explore the unique moral challenges that mark today's global digital landscape. Shannon Vallor, Santa Clara University