Information Technology Ethics, a Key Ingredient to Human Survival

Information Technology (IT) as a field of computing has been in existence since the 1990s. Though it has been with us for a short time, the field has changed how society handles different tasks be it in communication, interactions, and knowledge sharing among others. IT ethics has also been gaining popularity and attracting a lot of attention from researchers to ensure IT has been used for the betterment of our societies. The field of IT is continuously evolving, and new technologies are being developed each day to respond to current and future societal needs. It is therefore important to ensure ethical IT aligns with these as new technologies will introduce a new way of interacting with society, hence needs to ensure it conforms to society’s ethics.

This paper reviews how ethical IT has shaped the field of IT, where and how it has been applied to ensure IT products and resources are well used for the well-being of mankind. Since IT is evolving, the paper will also review and project the future of IT, some of its common trends and how ethical IT should evolve to respond to these new developments.