A methodology for internal Web ethics

TL;DR

This paper proposes a comprehensive methodology to analyze Web ethics by integrating Hayek's theory of freedom across technological, contextual, and economic levels, emphasizing the interplay of code, values, and systemic self-governance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework for internal Web ethics that considers the Web as a self-contained system influenced by freedom, code, and societal values, with specific insights on Net Neutrality.

Findings

Web's impact stems from user-generated content with minimal knowledge.

The Web's ethics are shaped by the interplay of code and societal values.

Freedom and coercion trade-offs are complex and context-dependent.

Abstract

The vigorous impact of the Web in time and space arises from the fact that it motivates massive creation, editing and distribution of information by Users with little knowledge. This unprecedented continuum provides novel opportunities for innovation but also puts under jeopardy its survival as a stable construct that nurtures a complex system of connections. We examine the Web as an ethics determined space by demonstrating Hayek's theory of freedom in a three-leveled Web: technological, contextualized and economic. Our approach accounts for the co-dependence of code and values, and assumes that the Web is a self-contained system that exists in and by itself. This view of internal Web ethics directly connects the concept of freedom with issues like centralization of traffic and data control, rights on visiting log file, custom User profiles and the interplay among function, structure and morality of the Web. It is also demonstrated, in the case of Net Neutrality, that generic freedom-coercion trade-offs are incomplete in treating specific cases at work.