Büschel Isabell, Mehdi Rostane, Cammilleri Anne, Marzouki Yousri, Elger Bernice
Institute for Biomedical Ethics (IBMB), Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland,
Sci Eng Ethics. 2014 Sep;20(3):639-58. doi: 10.1007/s11948-013-9511-y. Epub 2014 Jan 21.
This article is the result of an international research between law and ethics scholars from Universities in France and Switzerland, who have been closely collaborating with technical experts on the design and use of information and communication technologies in the fields of human health and security. The interdisciplinary approach is a unique feature and guarantees important new insights in the social, ethical and legal implications of these technologies for the individual and society as a whole. Its aim is to shed light on the tension between secrecy and transparency in the digital era. A special focus is put from the perspectives of psychology, medical ethics and European law on the contradiction between individuals' motivations for consented processing of personal data and their fears about unknown disclosure, transferal and sharing of personal data via information and communication technologies (named the "privacy paradox"). Potential benefits and harms for the individual and society resulting from the use of computers, mobile phones, the Internet and social media are being discussed. Furthermore, the authors point out the ethical and legal limitations inherent to the processing of personal data in a democratic society governed by the rule of law. Finally, they seek to demonstrate that the impact of information and communication technology use on the individuals' well-being, the latter being closely correlated with a high level of fundamental rights protection in Europe, is a promising feature of the socalled "e-democracy" as a new way to collectively attribute meaning to large-scale online actions, motivations and ideas.
本文是法国和瑞士大学的法律与伦理学者开展国际研究的成果，这些学者与技术专家就人类健康与安全领域信息通信技术的设计和使用进行了密切合作。跨学科方法是一大特色，能确保在这些技术对个人乃至整个社会的社会、伦理和法律影响方面获得重要的新见解。其目的是阐明数字时代保密与透明之间的矛盾。从心理学、医学伦理和欧洲法律的角度，特别关注个人同意处理个人数据的动机与他们对个人数据通过信息通信技术被未知披露、转移和共享的担忧之间的矛盾（即“隐私悖论”）。文中讨论了使用计算机、手机、互联网和社交媒体给个人和社会带来的潜在益处和危害。此外，作者指出在法治的民主社会中处理个人数据所固有的伦理和法律限制。最后，他们试图证明信息通信技术的使用对个人福祉的影响，而个人福祉与欧洲高水平的基本权利保护密切相关，这是所谓“电子民主”的一个有前景的特征，它是一种为大规模在线行动、动机和想法集体赋予意义的新方式。
