The use of normative theories in computer ethics

Abstract
Information Ethics is a recent alternative to traditional ethical theory to account for the moral phenomena and is the subject of further research to investigate how it can be made to bear upon the practical problems in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and to demonstrate that it has an explanatory and justificatory surplus compared to the traditional ethical normative theories. Floridi's Information Ethics provides a high-level value theory which applies to the ICTs domain, which at the same time allows for specification at the mid-level and lower levels of abstraction and specification. Mid-level theories may in turn be used as sources of moral arguments in the relevant empirical domains, where conceptual reconstructions have prepared the ground for their application. Reconstructed concepts, e.g. contestatory democracy, justice as fairness, privacy as data protection, function as high-level architectural principles for the design of information systems and ICTs applications.