Abstract
Ethically, what happens when our social, political, and commercial activities transfer to the virtual environment? In such an environment self‐presentations and interpersonal engagement are subject to digital filters, new forms of anonymity are enabled, and the nature of accountability and trust must be reimagined. The Internet presents us with a dual‐use problem – in which the same technology can be used for harm and for good – as well as a problem in which online and offline practices intersect, thereby creating novel ethical difficulties. The incremental evolution of the new online normativity means that agents online easily lose sight of what is morally at stake in how they act there, as well as how they may be targeted. These considerations provide the framework used in this entry for analyzing many of the most recent ethical problems and issues. These include (a) persuasive technologies, such as microtargeting, e‐nudges, digital choice architecture, and gamification; (b) cyberhate, including such categories as trolling or flaming; (c) online scams, including phishing, lottery scams, or romance scams; (d) virtuality, which raises a dilemma for deciding what is harmful, as well as questions concerning the genuineness of online relationships and identity; (e) information control and flow, with issues for Internet freedom versus censorship, surveillance, cybersecurity, and cyberwar; and (f) digital attacks on democracy, especially algorithmic manipulation of data feeds.