Open AccessThe Information Gap, the Digital Divide, and the Obligations of Affluent
Author(s) -
Kenneth Einar Himma
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international review of information ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2563-5638
DOI - 10.29173/irie7
Subject(s) - poverty , absolute (philosophy) , obligation , normative , digital divide , moral obligation , sort , sociology , extreme poverty , law and economics , political science , epistemology , law , computer science , philosophy , information and communications technology , information retrieval
In this essay, I would like to do three things. First, I would like to provide a broad and brief overview of the effects of absolute poverty in creating an information gap and a digital divide and the effects of these gaps in perpetuating absolute poverty. Second, I would like to show that ordinary case intuitions, normative ethical theories, and theological considerations converge in entailing a moral obligation to help those in poverty. Third, I would like to argue, all too briefly, that although this surely involves making donations of both cash and food - free of the sorts of conditions that are frequently imposed by organizations like the IMF and World Bank - it also involves donations of a sort that are specifically targeted to close the information and digital divides.