Dear Ethicist— Which FaceTime/Skype apps are the most HIPAA compliant? I am a therapist and have had clients request these type of sessions. However, I’m worried about privacy and heard that FaceTime was recently hacked. I need to know which of these apps would be the best and safest for my therapy sessions. Sign Me— […]
“Dear Ethicist– A couple of months ago I was sitting in a waiting room, flipping through magazines when I found an article that said smartphones (and tablets!) have more germs on them than your average toilet: Here! Here! Here! and Here! Of course, the very next day my co-worker wanted to show me some pictures […]
“Dear Ethicist– What’s wrong with “sculpting” the truth on online dating sites? Women get breast implants, which is essentially false advertising (or “falsies advertising”) but men fall for that. So what’s the harm in shaving off a few years from your age or adjusting your photo on a dating site? I mean, sometimes no one […]
“Dear Ethicist– How come I don’t have a robot wife yet? Sincerely– Still Waiting” Dear SW, You won’t have to wait long. “Lovotics” Robot Love is already in the geek lexicon. http://youtu.be/48txxlf0OF4
“Dear Ethicist– I recently received a long, personal email from a complete stranger. The email was not addressed to me, so I can only guess that they misspelled the email address and ended up sending this email to me instead of it’s intended recipient. This must happen pretty often. My question is: what should I […]
“Dear Ethicist– I am an artist and a graphic designer. Lately I’ve been thinking about “derivative works,” mostly due to the press surrounding Shepard Fairey’s Obama photo and the recent court ruling. Every artist is inspired by something: nature, another work of art, another artist, a book, a blog, a comment made by a friend. […]
“Dear Ethicist– Perhaps this is a question for the Internet Miss Manners, but I have yet to find her. So I’m asking you. Here’s my question: Should spouses be friends on Facebook? In my limited experience, what I’ve seen from the interaction of spouses on Facebook falls into three categories: 1.) The spouses are friends […]
“Dear Geek Ethicist, Do apps that promote ethical behavior diminish our ability to make just decisions? Signed- Librarian At Large” Dear LAL, Yes. They do. But no more than any other form of moral shortcut. Rigid, thoughtless adherence to a trendy set of norms of any particular fad is not ethical decision making at all […]
“Dear Ethicist: I was asked a couple of years ago if I could help a company who had some profitable apps for a prominent social network. They needed to bill people for sending presents and wanted to expand the market to teens. I wanted to help but ended up urging the company not to do […]
“Dear Ethicist– I have been an enthusiastic Apple customer for over a decade now. I use Apple products in my work and have been very satisfied with their performance, design and corporate responsibility. However, I just saw this article and was very disappointed. After the news about conditions for Apple workers in China, I had started […]
“Dear Ethicist, I have a new business and I need someone to host my website. A close friend just started a web hosting business and wants me to use her web hosting company. It would be good advertising for her, but I am not sure her web hosting will meet my needs. Should I go […]