The Politics of Computer Systems and the Ethics of Design

Computer ethics has mostly been concerned with moral issues relating to the use, regulation, and social implications of new information technology. Few studies have been concerned with the design of computer systems, and those that are often have a narrow scope. In this essay, computer systems are analyzed as social structures, harboring design features that have political implications. The aim of this essay is to present a more comprehensive moral perspective on the design of computer systems that takes their political features into account. Analyses are presented of two classes of political features: user bias and user constraint (political properties in computer systems that affect users) and informational biases (political biases in the information function of computer systems). These features are evaluated in the context of a Rawlsian moral framework.