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Ethics [21] is an area of study which falls under the philosophical category of axiology. Ethical issues pertaining to the Web and cyberspace are abundant and include; personal privacy, individualism and isolation, equality of access, computer crime, pornography, job loss, commercialism, materialism, and cultural imperialism. While these issues are very specific and tied to specific attributes of the Web environment and specific ways of using the Web, some argue that the larger issue is simply the all-encompassing nature of the technological system, of which this is only one small part. Such an advocate, and a leading writer on the ethical issues surrounding technology and media, was Jacques Ellul. A sociologist, philosopher, and theologian, Ellul was a prolific writer [22]. His magnum opus, The Technological Society, written in 1964, continues to speak to the issues facing society today.
One of the most basic value-laden questions regarding a new technology is; will the technology result in a better quality of life for its users? In Neil Postman's book Technopoly (1993), the author began with the story of Thamus, from Plato's Phaedrus. In the story, which is familiar to students of philosophy, King Thamus is visited by Theuth, the inventor god. Theuth has invented writing and is selling this wonderful idea to Thamus. But despite the list of wonderful things that this new invention will enable, and the problems that it will solve, Thamus is skeptical. He's not so sure that writing will be a good thing for his kingdom. Of course, Postman's goal is to help us to begin to see the humble beginnings of technology. Ong's (1982) Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word is an eloquent continuation of the questions raised by Thamus. But the larger question remains. How does one begin to ascertain the value of any new technology?
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