Information Ethics in Africa: - Africa Information Ethics Portal

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Capurro, R. (2013). Information Ethics in the African Context. In Information Ethics in Africa: Cross-cutting Themes.Pretoria: ACEIE, 7-20.Chapter TwoInformation Ethics in the African Context 1Rafael CapurroACEIE, Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria, SAInternational Center for Information Ethics (ICIE), GermanySchool of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA1. IntroductionSince the second half of the twentieth century, computer scientists like Norbert Wiener (1989 - 1950)and Joseph Weizenbaum (1976) have raised public awareness of the societal challenges of computertechnology. In the beginning, the academic discussion was focused on the responsibility of computerprofessionals. However, for scientists like Wiener and Weizenbaum, the impact of computertechnology was understood to be something that concerned society as a whole.Half a century after Wiener’s seminal work, the World Summit on the Information Society(WSIS) developed the vision:[…] to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society,where everyone can create, access, utilise and share information and knowledge,enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promotingtheir sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposesand principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (WSIS, 2003).The WSIS proposed a political agenda, namely:[…] to harness the potential of information and communication technology to promote thedevelopment goals of the Millennium Declaration, namely: the eradication of extremepoverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education; promotion of genderequality and empowerment of women; reduction of child mortality; improvement ofmaternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmentalsustainability; and development of global partnerships for development for the attainmentof a more peaceful, just and prosperous world (WSIS, 2003).The Geneva Declaration of Principles states:56. The Information Society should respect peace and uphold the fundamental values offreedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, shared responsibility, and respect for nature.57. We acknowledge the importance of ethics for the Information Society, which shouldfoster justice, and the dignity and worth of the human person. The widest possible1This contribution is based on the following papers: [1] Information Ethics for and from Africa. Keynote address at the firstAfrica Information Ethics Conference (Pretoria 2007), published in the International Review of Information Ethics (IRIE).Online: http://www.i-r-i-e.net/issue7.htm and reprinted in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science andTechnology, 59 (7): 19, 2008. [2] Digital Ethics, presented at the 2009 Global Forum on Civilization and Peace organised bythe Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul 1009. Published by The Academy of Korean Studies (ed.), 2009 Civilization andPeace, Paju: Jimoondang 2010, pp. 2003-2014. Online: http://www.capurro.de/korea.html; [3] Information Ethics in Africa.Past, present and future activities (2007-2010). Report presented at the WSIS Forum 2010, Geneva, May 11, 2010. Online:http://www.capurro.de/wsis2010_africa_infoethics.html.Page 7
R. Capurroprotection should be accorded to the family and to enable it to play its crucial role insociety.58. The use of ICTs and content creation should respect human rights and fundamentalfreedoms of others, including personal privacy, and the right to freedom of thought,conscience, and religion in conformity with relevant international instruments.59. All actors in the Information Society should take appropriate actions and preventivemeasures, as determined by law, against abusive uses of ICTs, such as illegal and otheracts motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance,hatred, violence, all forms of child abuse, including paedophilia and child pornography,and trafficking in, and exploitation of, human beings (Geneva Declaration of Principles,2003).The participants of the Tunis summit shared the Geneva vision with the following words:2. We reaffirm our desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive anddevelopment-oriented Information Society, premised on the purposes and principles of theCharter of the United Nations, international law and multilateralism, and respecting fullyand upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so that people everywhere cancreate, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, to achieve their full potentialand to attain the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including theMillennium Development Goals (Tunis Commitment, 18 November, 2005).The economy and public policy of modern societies rely heavily on digital networks. The importanceof Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the economy became obvious with theburst of the 2000 dot com bubble and was one of the main factors leading to the recent world financialand economic crisis. Beyond the individual responsibility of politicians, bankers and managers, thereis a systemic issue that has to do with the digitalisation of financial and economic communication andinformation. Digital capitalism was and still is able to bypass national and international law, controland monitor institutions and mechanisms, as well as codes of practice and good governance, whichlead to a global crisis of trust not only within the system, but also with regard to the system itself. Inorder to develop a people-oriented and sustainable world economic system and national andinternational monitoring agencies, as well as international law, self-binding rules are needed in orderto establish a sustainable system based on fair play.ICT has a strong impact on public policy, leading to a transformation of 20 th century democracyinto a more participatory one. Interactive media weakens the hierarchical one-to-many structure oftraditional hierarchic mass-media, giving individuals the capacity to become senders of messages andnot just receivers of information. ICTs are widely used for political participation and grass-roots protestgroups, as well as by liberation and peace movements. By the same token, online social networksmake possible new structures of political surveillance, censorship and control of individuals and wholesocieties (Coenen et al., 2012). We live in message societies (Capurro & Holgate, 2011), where theInternet has become a local and global basic social communication infrastructure. Freedom of accessneeds to be brought to the forefront as it is a fundamental ethical principle similar to freedom ofspeech and freedom of the press. Some of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of HumanRights, such as the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Art. 18), the right to freedomof opinion and expression (Art. 19), and the right to peaceful assembly and association (Art. 20), needto be explicitly interpreted and defined, taking the new and unique affordances of digital media intoconsideration. Lawrence Lessig envisaged a situation in which the universality of cyberspace isendangered by local codes of the market, the software industry, the laws of nation states, and moraltraditions. He writes:If we do nothing, the code of cyberspace will change. The invisible hand will change it in apredictable way. To do nothing is to embrace at least that. It is to accept the changes thatPage 8
Page 1 and 2: Information Ethics in Africa: Cross
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Page 11 and 12: About the AuthorsDennis N. Ocholla
Page 13 and 14: J.J. Britzmeaning of the ethical co
Page 15 and 16: J.J. Britzright is not only on the
Page 17: J.J. BritzFreeman, C. & Louca, F. (
Page 21 and 22: R. Capurroindustrial and military a
Page 23 and 24: R. Capurrocommon world instead of m
Page 25 and 26: R. Capurroterminology (Wiredu, 1995
Page 27 and 28: R. CapurroICT in Africa includes al
Page 29 and 30: R. CapurroBuchmann, J. (Ed.) (2012)
Page 31 and 32: R. CapurroRoosevelt, E. (1958). In
Page 33 and 34: D.N. Ochollatheoretical views on th
Page 35 and 36: D.N. Ochollaof GDP per capita are (
Page 37 and 38: D.N. Ochollaassociate IK with tradi
Page 39 and 40: D.N. Ochollafulfil the ideals as sp
Page 41 and 42: S.M. MutulaBy definition, Informati
Page 43 and 44: S.M. Mutulasurpassing countries in
Page 45 and 46: S.M. MutulaThe University of Manito
Page 47 and 48: S.M. Mutula8. Gaps in social media
Page 49 and 50: S.M. Mutulaadhering to policies and
Page 51 and 52: S.M. MutulaIt was found that cultur
Page 53 and 54: S.M. MutulaVelasquez, M., Andre, C.
Page 55 and 56: D. KawooyaLikewise, the laws and re
Page 57 and 58: D. Kawooya107) but slowly making it
Page 59 and 60: D. Kawooya4. IP in Africa and ethic
Page 61 and 62: D. Kawooyawrongdoing because of the
Page 63 and 64: D. Kawooyapractices. Countries that
Page 65 and 66: D. KawooyaOf course, at the core of
Page 67 and 68: D. Kawooyanumber of information acc
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S.M. Mutulaparties and civil societ
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S.M. Mutulaadoption of the principl
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S.M. Mutulaset of 17 barriers for e
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S.M. Mutulaavailing tender document
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S.M. MutulaReferencesAkther, M.S.,
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J.J. Britzalso to benefit from it t
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J.J. Britzthe public sphere, which
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J.J. Britzinfrastructure, developme
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J.J. Britz6.2. Qualitative indicato
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J.J. BritzSen, A. (1993). Capabilit
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IndexCapurro 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 21
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IndexFFacebook 30, 33fairness 2femi
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IndexITU World Telecommunication 27
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Indexrecognition algorithms 11recon
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IndexYYoruba 49YouTube 30ZZimbabwe
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