The sheer number and variety of sites where such ostensibly private information is made public can make it impossible for someone to truly get privacy. What is remarkable is how well Dr. Moor did at predicting the ethical issues that would continue to be part of the Computer Revolution. Even if computers are simply exacerbating existing ethical dilemmas, the fact that they are capable of doing so means that they are going to continue to present ethical problems. For example, when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, slavery was already in existence and used through the American South. That Industrial Revolution invention did not create the ethical issue of slavery. However, with the improved ability to process cotton, cotton suddenly became an incredibly profitable crop. The need for cheap labor jumped dramatically, which certainly increased the demand for slave labor. What that example makes clear is that even seemingly helpful inventions can have far-reaching consequences, many of which might be outside of the realm of thought for the inventor. That is why computer ethics should be a field of study with special status; to help facilitate the exploration of the possible ethical ramifications of a computer program. A modern example similar to the cotton gin might be the creation of easy tourism software. Sex tourism has been around as long as world travel has been feasible. Men have frequently gone to other locations to engage in sexual practices that would be impermissible in their homelands. Typically, they use women or children who are indigenous...
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