Information ethics and the law of data representations

Abstract

Abstract. The theories of information ethics articulated by Luciano Floridi and his collaborators have clear implications for law. Information law, including the law of privacy and of intellectual property, is especially likely to benefit from a coherent and comprehensive theory of information ethics. This article illustrates how information ethics might apply to legal doctrine, by examining legal questions related to the ownership and control of the personal data representations, including photographs, game avatars, and consumer profiles, that have become ubiquitous with the proliferation of information and communication technologies. Recent controversy over the control of player performance statistics in ''fantasy'' sports leagues provides a limiting case for the analysis. Such data representations will in many instances constitute the kind of personal data that information ethics asserts constitutes an information entity. Legal doctrine in some instances proves sympathetic to such an assertion, but remains largely inchoate as to which data might constitute a given information entity in a given instance. Neither is information ethics, in its current state of development, entirely helpful in answering this critical question. While information ethics holds some promise to bring coherence to this area of the law, further work articulating a richer theory of information ethics will be necessary before it can do so.

“The dearest of our possessions”: Applying Floridi's information privacy concept in models of information behavior and information literacy

“…Privacy issues in this model fit within, and draw from, a wider information ethics (Element 1 in the model). Burk (2008) and Stahl (2008) were among the first to assert that considerations of privacy need to be set in a wide and robust framework of ethics and require an equally robust model of exactly what constitutes an individual's personal information; they were also among the first to question whether Floridi's information ethics is sufficiently consistent and robust for the purpose. Subsequent development of the model, and experience of its use in practice, verifies that it is indeed consistent and robust.…”

“…To commentators such as Tavani (2008a) and Burk (2008) who question whether informational privacy can be distinguished from other forms, and whether Floridian privacy is meant to replace or to complement other privacy theories, Floridi (2008Floridi ( , 2013 argues that the model gives a common framework in which to analyze and contextualize all specific forms of privacy, given that these are necessarily informational in nature. Tavani (2008a) suggests that it could incorporate other insights, such as Nissenbaum's "privacy as contextual integrity."…”

Curating the infosphere

“…Although not strictly within the LIS literature, these illustrated the developing reach of PI into areas of clear relevance to LIS: IE and law, and the nature of modern information-based society. In particular, Burk (2008) noted the potential of Floridi's IE for revising legal codes relating to data, information and documents in various ways, Tavani (2008) commended the theory of privacy emerging from PI as particularly relevant for the new digital environment, while Briggle and Mitcham (2009) argued that PI could be extended to encompass information culture. Capurro (2008) took a more critical view, arguing, in a somewhat similar vein to Cornelius, for a more humanistic and hermeneutic approach, and expressing a particular concern that that PI's emphasis on the intrinsic informational value of all entities undermines a concern for humans.…”

“…It was recognised a decade ago that Floridi's IE was able to address issues of direct concern to LIS, such as the laws governing privacy and intellectual property (Burk, 2008;Ess, 2008Ess, , 2009. Even so, IE has been criticised at various times as being too abstract, and not giving help in specific situations (see e.g.…”

The hidden demography of new media ethics

“…Particularly germane to the present study is Ess's (2009) examination of ethics in relation to copyright and copying from a cross-national perspective. Burk (1999Burk ( , 2005Burk ( , 2008Burk ( , 2009) also engages with the ethics of emerging information and digital practices from copyright and patent, to gaming and data collection. The present study draws from this literature and attempts to demonstrate and catalog the emergence of new ethical frameworks related to digital culture, to examine the ways in which they conflict with the sociolegal structures that officially govern mediated communication, and to explore the demographic and psychographic factors informing the adoption of these new frameworks.…”