Information Ethics in Africa: - Africa Information Ethics Portal

Understanding Information Ethics3. Information EthicsInformation Ethics, as applied ethics, is that field of study that investigates the ethical issues arisingfrom the life cycle of information, including the generation, gathering, organisation, retrieval,distribution and use of information. As an interdisciplinary field of study it relates among others to thefields of computer science, library and information science, philosophy, communication science,journalism and mass media. The focus areas include the following: the right to privacy, the right ofaccess to information, the right to intellectual property and the quality of information.3.1. Historical development of Information EthicsAccording to Capurro (2006), the study of the historical development of Information Ethics withindifferent cultural traditions is still an open task. Not much is for example known of the development ofthis field in Africa and Asia. In this text the focus is on the development of Information Ethics in theWestern tradition. A few comments on recent developments in Africa will also be made.The Western tradition of Information Ethics is based on three core ideas, namely 1) freedom ofspeech, 2) freedom of access to information and 3) freedom of the press. Western Information Ethicscan be traced back to the oral tradition of the ancient Greeks where freedom of speech and freedomof expression were highly valued in the agora (the market place). Plato, with the publication of hisdialogues, introduced the transition from an oral to a written culture. Under the influence of theChristian tradition a true book culture was developed focusing on the Bible and using Latin as theofficial written language. Interpretation and communication of the text were limited to members of theclergy. Freedom of access to information and communication of ideas was therefore still mainlyapplied in written form and limited to the religious leaders of the time. The invention of the printingpress by Johannes Gutenberg in 1452 as well as the translation and distribution of the Bible intoGerman by among others Johannes Mentelin and the reformer Martin Luther (1534) changed thissituation and introduced the notion that everyone can have access to information as well as thefreedom to share ideas with others, not only in an oral but also in written and printed forms. After theFrench revolution, libraries of the nobility and churches were made public and allowed more people togain access to information and to share their ideas. This laid the cornerstone for what later becamethe principle of the freedom of the press.A direct consequence of the invention of the printing press and subsequent widening of literacylevels of people in Europe was the introduction of copyright in the 18 th century in Britain. This wasmainly in reaction to the monopolies held by printers. Although initially invented to provide authorssome form of legal protection for their works for a short period of time, copyright soon expanded itsscope and application to become an international legal concept, known as intellectual property,regulating not only the creation of information products, but also the right of access to them andcopying and distributing them in almost all formats. The introduction and development of intellectualproperty rights have profoundly changed the very nature of freedom of access to information.The acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations(UN) in 1948 articulated these three core information principles as universal and basic human rightsfor the first time. It also lays down the groundwork for the role of communication in society as a whole.This is specifically true of Articles 18 and 19 dealing with the right of freedom of thought, conscienceand religion (Art. 18) and the right to freedom of opinion and expression (Art. 19) respectively. Sincethen, most democracies have embedded these principles into their own constitutions and/orlegislation. Since the late 1960s the right to communicate has also become a central concern for theUN. This is the case with the purpose of expanding the spheres of both freedom of expression andaccess to information by including the right to communicate as a basic human right. The focus of thisPage 3