Human rights in an information age
Subtitle: a philosophical analysis
By: Gregory J. Walters.
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Toronto
Language: eng
Number of pages: 335
Subjects: Information society.; Information technology -- Social aspects.; Human rights -- Moral and ethical aspects.; Human rights -- Philosophy.; Société informatisée.; Technologie de l'information -- Aspect social.; Droits économiques et sociaux -- Aspect moral.; Droits de l'homme (Droit international) -- Philosophie.
Description: "How can we balance new information technology practices with human rights? In Human Rights in an Information Age, Gregory Walters analyses Canadian and global information highway policy and practices regarding the Internet, e-commerce, public health and safety, privacy and security, and information warfare from a philosophical, human rights framework that views freedom and well-being as the necessary conditions of human action.

Walters situates the information age revolution within the broader historical and technological situation of modernity. Drawing on the action-based philosophical human rights framework of Alan Gewirth, Walters applies the Principle of Generic Consistency to a host of policy issues, and argues that values of mutuality, trust, and social solidarity are increasingly vital to the promotion and protection of human dignity and human rights in the information age."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Introduction 3; title: The Information Age Revolution 4; title: Purpose and Methodology 10; title: Three Ethical Challenges of Canadian Information Highway; title: Policy 10; title: Aims and Terminological Presuppositions 14; title: The Conceptual Importance of Information to Human Rights 18; title: Philosophical Parameters and Thesis 21; title: Structure of the Book 23; title: 1 The Philosophical Framework 26; title: The Information Age in the Context of Modernity 26; title: Human Rights in an Information Age 32; title: 2 Information Highway Policy and E-Commerce Strategy 53; title: The Public Policy Product Cycle 53; title: Historical and Sociological Specification of Canadian Com-; title: munications Policy 55; title: Industry Canada and the Information Highway Advisory; title: Council 60; title: IHAC Policy Phase I: 1993-95 61; title: IHAC Policy Phase II: 1996-98 67; title: IHAC Policy Phase III: The Canadian Electronic Commerce; title: Strategy 69; title: Methodological and Ethical Analysis 72; title: 3 The Informational Economy, Work, and Productive Agency 80; title: Productive Agency, Work, and Human Capital 81; title: Two Justifications of Private Property 86; title: Inequality and the Restriction of Property Rights 89; title: The Global Situation: The Informational Economy 93; title: The North American Situation 102; title: The Informational Economy and the Community of Rights 116; title: 4 Privacy and Security Policy: The Historical Situation 117; title: The Global Situation 117; title: The Canadian Situation 125; title: Conclusion 147; title: 5 Privacy and Security: An Ethical Analysis 150; title: Surveying Our Technological Situation 151; title: Legal, Social Science, and Philosophical Conceptions of; title: Privacy 157; title: Action Theory and the Ethical Justification of Privacy Rights 164; title: Privacy and Security Policy in the Light of the Principle of; title: Human Rights 165; title: Conclusion 183; title: 6 Information Warfare 187; title: The 'Revolution in Military Affairs' 188; title: Information Warfare: Definitions and Conceptions 190; title: Global Surveillance Practices: The ECHELON Network 196; title: Strategic Information Warfare Rising 199; title: Information Warfare and International Human Rights Law 201; title: Information Warfare and the Principle of Generic Consistency 204; title: A 'Just' Information War? 213; title: Is 'Perpetual Peace' Possible in the Information Age? 214; title: Conclusion 216; title: 7 Information Warfare and Deterrence 218; title: Information Warfare Policy: Clarifying the Terms of the Debate 219 Instrumental Rationality, Reasonableness, and Motivation 221; title: Strategic Information Warfare Deterrence and the Prisoner's; title: Dilemma 225; title: Rethinking Policy Alternatives for the Information Age 231; title: Conclusion 236; title: Conclusion: Towards a Global Community of Rights; title: in the Information Age 238; title: Notes 255; title: References 277; title: Index 313.