Information technology has substantially affected modern life in industrialized societies. To be responsible users of information technology, students should have a basic understanding of its history, an awareness of current issues, and a familiarity with ethics. This text addresses these and all the topics of the "Social and Professional Issues" course in the 2001 Model Curricula for Computing developed by the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society. Every issue is considered from the point of view of multiple ethical theories, giving students the opportunity to think critically about the issues and draw their own conclusions. The carefully developed ethical analyses in the book help students learn how to develop a logical argument supporting a particular point of view.

In the second edition, Michael Quinn has introduced new material covering the most up-to-date moral controversies surrounding information technology, including Internet addiction,MGM vs. Grokster, and the potential for China and India to reduce American dominance in the field of IT. Earlier chapters explore problems related to using an Internet-enabled computer: spam, controversial e-mail and Web sites, identity theft, and the exchange of copyrighted music over peer-to-peer networks. Later chapters focus on issues with greater impact on society as a whole, such as privacy, government surveillance, computer and network security, and computer error. All of these parts come together to give a thorough and unbiased presentation of computer ethics.