Taddeo Mariarosaria, Floridi Luciano
Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 1, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3JS, UK.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2016 Dec;22(6):1575-1603. doi: 10.1007/s11948-015-9734-1. Epub 2015 Nov 27.
Online service providers (OSPs)-such as AOL, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter-significantly shape the informational environment (infosphere) and influence users' experiences and interactions within it. There is a general agreement on the centrality of OSPs in information societies, but little consensus about what principles should shape their moral responsibilities and practices. In this article, we analyse the main contributions to the debate on the moral responsibilities of OSPs. By endorsing the method of the levels of abstract (LoAs), we first analyse the moral responsibilities of OSPs in the web (LoA). These concern the management of online information, which includes information filtering, Internet censorship, the circulation of harmful content, and the implementation and fostering of human rights (including privacy). We then consider the moral responsibilities ascribed to OSPs on the web (LoA) and focus on the existing legal regulation of access to users' data. The overall analysis provides an overview of the current state of the debate and highlights two main results. First, topics related to OSPs' public role-especially their gatekeeping function, their corporate social responsibilities, and their role in implementing and fostering human rights-have acquired increasing relevance in the specialised literature. Second, there is a lack of an ethical framework that can (a) define OSPs' responsibilities, and (b) provide the fundamental sharable principles necessary to guide OSPs' conduct within the multicultural and international context in which they operate. This article contributes to the ethical framework necessary to deal with (a) and (b) by endorsing a LoA enabling the definition of the responsibilities of OSPs with respect to the well-being of the infosphere and of the entities inhabiting it (LoA).
在线服务提供商（如美国在线、脸书、谷歌、微软和推特）极大地塑造了信息环境（信息圈），并影响用户在其中的体验和互动。人们普遍认同在线服务提供商在信息社会中的核心地位，但对于应以何种原则来规范其道德责任和行为，却几乎没有达成共识。在本文中，我们分析了关于在线服务提供商道德责任辩论的主要观点。通过认可抽象层次（LoA）方法，我们首先分析在线服务提供商在网络层面（LoA）的道德责任。这些责任涉及在线信息管理，包括信息过滤、互联网审查、有害内容传播以及人权（包括隐私）的落实与促进。然后，我们考虑赋予在线服务提供商在网络层面（LoA）的道德责任，并聚焦于当前对用户数据访问的法律监管。整体分析概述了当前辩论的状况，并突出了两个主要结果。第一，与在线服务提供商的公共角色相关的话题——尤其是其把关功能、企业社会责任以及在落实和促进人权方面的作用——在专业文献中越来越受关注。第二，缺乏一个道德框架，该框架既能（a）界定在线服务提供商的责任，又能（b）提供必要的基本可共享原则，以指导在线服务提供商在其运营的多元文化和国际背景下的行为。本文通过认可一种抽象层次（LoA）来促成处理（a）和（b）所需的道德框架，这种抽象层次（LoA）能够界定在线服务提供商对信息圈及其所包含实体的福祉所应承担的责任（LoA）。
