Ever since its earliest days, the field of computer ethics has had to address the issue of whether computer ethics is a field of study separate from applied ethics. There are two compelling arguments in favor of separate study. First, computer technology makes new behaviors possible, and hence people working with computer technology should be aware of the moral consequences of their behaviors. Second, trained ethicists might not be sufficiently familiar with the possibilities inherent in computer technology to do our thinking for us.

The authors of this paper would do well to look to computer ethics for some guidance. The paper begins a discussion of the ethical implications of persuasive technology. While it is always a good idea to begin discussions on these important topics, it suffers from some rather serious flaws. First, it is a paper in a special issue of CACM on persuasive technologies. Reading this paper alone leaves the reader with a very limited understanding of persuasive technologies. In fact, the authors refer to earlier papers for a framework. The second problem is that it is unclear why persuasive technologies need separate treatment. The authors provide eight principles of persuasive technology design that say, in essence, that anything that would be unethical without the technology is still unethical with the technology. The third problem is that the authors do not provide any guidance on where this ethical exploration should go.

On the positive side, the paper is well written and interesting. If the intent was simply to raise the reader’s awareness, it was successful. If the reader wants to know what to do with that raised awareness, he or she must look elsewhere.