When teaching applied ethics, instructing students through the use of cases is an important avenue that can be employed to introduce students to ethical issues concerning the specific fields under study. The use of cases can also introduce students to the history of the technical and ethical issues in the field being studied and can help develop in students a sensitivity to social and ethical issues related to the cases selected for discussion. Students are often required to take applied ethics courses for 3 reasons as a part of program accreditation and as preparation for the time when students will enter the professional world and for when they may have to deal with ethical issues arising in that world. The study of real world cases is an important venue for accomplishing all of these tasks.When teaching applied ethics, instructing students through the use of cases is an important avenue that can be employed to introduce students to ethical issues concerning the specific fields under study. The use of cases can also introduce students to the history of the technical and ethical issues in the field being studied and can help develop in students a sensitivity to social and ethical issues related to the cases selected for discussion. Students are often required to take applied ethics courses for 3 reasons as a part of program accreditation and as preparation for the time when students will enter the professional world and for when they may have to deal with ethical issues arising in that world. The study of real world cases is an important venue for accomplishing all of these tasks.The method introduced here focuses on Engineering cases but combines Engineering and Information Computer Technology (ICT) Ethics. and is committed to remaining true to the technical principles of engineering practice and ICT while simultaneously introducing students to the importance of ethics. ICTE is included in the analysis because much of the work done in medicine depends upon computers and information computer technology and this technology plays an important mediational role between Engineering professionals and the development of Engineering products. A method that is committed to the researching of engineering ethics issues through the study of real world cases, allows students to perform research on technical issues in conjunction with introducing students to the importance of ethics. Introducing technical distinctions from the engineering field, ICT, and ethics can be accomplished when the study of ethics is supplemented with the introduction of social and historical issues through the extensive use of layers of cases. Layers of cases can be introduced by beginning with the study of individual cases. The study of individual cases including historical cases can be followed by the study of current cases. This presents a foundation for a comparison of cases. The comparison of historical and present cases can then serve as the foundation for comparing historical and present cases to emerging cases, which are cases that are capable of developing in the present moment. A current example is the emergence of ethical issues related to covid -19. The comparison of historical, present, and emerging cases provides a foundation for a further type of analysis, anticipatory ethical analysis. Anticipatory ethics is concerned with studying technology at the R & D stage of development as it is introduced, and then as it enters into the power stage of development. This study can then be employed to project technological developments into the future. Anticipatory ethics can then analyze anticipated technological developments and cases related to these developments. Anticipatory ethics is concerned with studying ethical issues arising with the development of technologies and with anticipating future developments and possible ethical problems that may emerge as the result of these developments. The method presented in this discussion introduces students in applied ethics classes to the analysis of technical and ethical issues emerging from historical and present cases and then this background can be used to project trajectories for anticipated technological development and the ethical issues related to cases that may potentially arise in the future. The need for the introduction of an anticipatory analysis is based upon the idea that the exponential growth of technology gives rise to unique cases with ethical issues that need to be addressed as they arise and as far as possible before they arise.

“An enhanced understanding of fundamental biological sciences primarily the interaction and interplay between biological cells and integrative biological chemical and structural cues within and in Vivo milieu or natural 3 dimensional micro environment requires a carefully defined role for engineering design and Manufacturing to meet the challenges presented by increasingly complex biological problems.” [1]Organ printing and tissue engineering can be used in conjunction with the application of additive computer-aided manufacturing process technologies, which create a layered pattern disposition of complex 3D bearing biological structures with biomolecular and biopolymer material integration. The term organ printing has been more narrowly defined as a biomedical variant of rapid prototyping technology or computer-aided robotic layer-by-layer at biofabrication of 3D human tissues and organs using self-assembling tissue spheroids as building blocks. The combination of 3D printing, nanotechnology, and organ printing can make a tremendous impact on the practice of medicine. 3D printed organs based upon his biological principles in which the self-assembly process, refers to a series of processes, where researchers are actively involved in combining atoms and molecules in aggregates of molecules and components, which eventually arrange themselves into ordered function entities without human intervention. The analysis will review current developments and attempt to identify future developments in organ printing techniques including, micro extrusion based printing, inkjet base printing, and laser-based printing as the possible ways that organs can be printed through developments in nanotechnology and 3D printing. In order for this to occur many challenges will need to be overcome. This analysis will focus on the ethical issues related to 3D organ printing in conjunction with developments in nanotechnology from the perspectives of researchers and physicians, patients and future patients (members of society). In addition an anticipatory ethical analysis will be conducted based upon a projection of future possibilities related to the confluence of 3D technology, nanotechnology and organ printing. In general practical ethicists attempt to identify and address social and ethical issues that arise in the world around us. When practical ethicists attempt to identify ethical problems that may develop in the future, these problems are often identified based upon these general ethical principles. Anticipatory ethics has emerged and begun to gain attention in the area of information technology ethics. Anticipatory ethics can be characterized as focusing on the problems that can be anticipated as potentially arising because of emerging technologies. In this analysis anticipatory ethics will be employed to analyze future possibilities related to the confluence of 3D technology, nanotechnology and organ printing.

With the use of the simple phrase, “OK, Google,” or “Hey Alexa…” a user has the world at their fingertips. Virtual assistants are what makes up a whole new artificial intelligence market where these new voice-activated systems are now assisting humans not only with daily tasks but also with making decisions. The virtual assistant market is focused on having the virtual assistant perform a wide range of activities where they want humans do less, and technology does more. Virtual assistants provide help with simple tasks but they are now a major source for research, finance management and other services that use machine learning as the basis of analysis. Virtual assistants function through the use cloud-based program where they use previous data to enhance the current device’s performance. While virtual assistants make day-to-day life much easier for the individuals who use it, there is still a question of privacy and who has access to the information gathered by the personal assistant. The technical issues with virtual assistants include data being skewed and a breach of privacy by storing information on the cloud server rather than on the computer’s hard drive, queries being sent to various companies where the data may be stored for up to two years, and saved queries being connected to their users data in order to associate the collected information with a profile created with the user’s data. By having these flaws related virtual assistant devices, consumers are less likely to trust this form of technology that the market is trying to promote and enlarge. These technical issues lead to ethical concerns that will analyzed in this discussion. The ethical issues that arise from the technological concerns with virtual assistants are the lack of notification that is given to the user when this information gets stored. The user has little, or no, knowledge regarding to where their personal data is going and where it is being stored. Companies are known to have used the information collected to create a more micro-targeted form of marketing, leading them to deeper profits. The social consequence of virtual assistants is that the consumer is left in the dark when it comes to their own, private, personal information. Companies claim that once a user agrees to their terms and conditions that they now own the consumers data but that information still belongs to an individual, creating a confusing dynamic of who owns what data. Despite the technical and ethical issues that are related to virtual assistants, there are several benefits to this new technology that has helped shaped the climate of the technological world. This analysis will examine examples of different virtual assistants, the ethical problems that are associated with them, and carry out an anticipatory ethical analysis of problems that may arise in the future. From this analysis policy can be developed about personal assistants.

Ransomware has become a primary security risk to businesses, and it is now the fastest-growing category of cybercrime. Furthermore, ransomware attacks on healthcare, energy and water distribution, and defense contractor organizations have begun to impact both business and national security. Traditional ransomware encrypts files on an infected computer which blocks users’ access until a sum of money or ransom is paid, often via cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Businesses and individuals who become victims of ransomware attacks are faced with the expense of paying the ransom, or restoring files from backup if this available, losing files altogether or completely restoring the files. Beginning in late 2019, cybercriminals stepped up their game by deploying new attacks known as “double-extortion” ransomware, within which files are stolen before being encrypted. Even if an organization might be able to recover its data from backups, by stealing the files first before the files are encrypted, the attacker can still profit either by selling any confidential data on the dark web or by further extorting the business and threatening to leak sensitive information unless an even larger ransom is paid. As of 2021, double-extortion ransomware is still in its infancy, but it can be anticipated that possible long-term trends toward even more persistent multiple-extortion tactics, in which stolen data could continue to be used by cybercriminals, terrorists, and rogue nation-states potentially decades in the future will continue. Traditional, passive measures in cybersecurity and business continuity, like firewalls, antivirus software, and frequent backups, are not sufficient to protect organizations from this new type of data theft and extortion enterprise. Government agencies and private corporations alike are beginning to employ active cyber threat hunters and intelligence analysts to detect and neutralize this newest class of persistent threat. This anticipatory ethical analysis will attempt to identify future threats from the development of Multiple-Extortion Ransomware and use this ethical analysis as the basis for developing policy about future ransomware developments.

In today’s social media dominated world the effort to undermine democracy comes in an increasingly wide variety of forms. One example is the use of social media by contemporary leaders and groups where they engage in waging information warfare within their own nations upon their own citizens. This paper will examine how this has occurred with the group QANON. One of QANON’s central conspiracy theories maintains that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles is not only in control of running the world’s governments, but this cabal is also running a global child sex-trafficking ring. This cabal is also involved in plotting against US President Donald Trump, who is in turn engaged in combatting the cabal. Another QANON theory also claims that Trump is planning a day of reckoning against the cabal and its followers known as “The Storm.” This refers to an event when thousands of members of the supposed cabal will be arrested. There are currently no indications that any part of the theory is based on fact. The conspiracy theory began with an October 2017 online post by a supposed individual known as ‘Q’, who at the time was presumed to be a single American citizen. It is now also assumed and more likely that Q is actually a group of people. Q as an individual claimed to be a high-ranking government official with Q level clearance in the U.S. government with access to classified information related to the Trump administration. Perhaps more significantly Q also claimed to have classified information about the opponents of Trump in the United States. NBC News was the first member of the media to report that three distinct people took the original Q post and distributed it across multiple media and social media platforms in an effort to build an internet following. We take the activities related to Q to be a method of Hybrid Warfare, which here is defined in the context of social media. Hybrid warfare which is now often practiced in all forms of media but particularly within social media, does not have a universally recognized definition. In this analysis the phrase is employed to describe how any individual or group such as QANON can employ non-military tactics in social media in the effort to undermine and destabilize a government. We argue that disinformation and propaganda dissemination, are not new techniques, but that they have been adapted to current technologies and social media. It is assumed in this analysis that every conspiracy theory, when a conspiracy is identified, presents a moral issue. When a conspiracy theory is presented as an explanation for an action or as the cause of an event this serves the function of making an accusation. The accusation that lies at the center of the conspiracy is an attack upon the truthfulness of what is claimed to be true by the party that the conspiracy theorist is attacking. This analysis has as its goal an identification of the ethical issues with conspiracy theories used by political leaders and groups such as QANON in social media and attempts to anticipate ethical and political issues with the continued use of these conspiracy theories in social media in cthe effort to undermine democracy.

Media ecology theory is the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments. The theoretical concepts were proposed by Marshall McLuhan in 1964, while the term media ecology was first formally introduced by Marshall McLuhan in 1962. Ecology in this context refers to the environment in which the medium is used—what they are and how they affect society. Neil Postman states, “Media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival. The word ecology implies the study of environments: their structure, content, and impact on people. An environment is, after all, a complex message system which imposes on human beings certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.” Media ecology argues that media act as extensions of the human senses in each era, and communication technology is the primary cause of social change. Every communication technology (medium) has fundamental physical, psychological, and social characteristics that are basically separate and fixed. These characteristics condition how users of a medium communicate, process information, give meaning to and make sense of the world. Every communication technology conditions users to think and to speak in specific ways. In order to understand how Twitter accomplishes this, the features that define Twitter need to be identified. Twitter is a microblogging platform, a form of blogging in which tweets typically consists of short phrases, quick comments, images or links to video’s limited to 280 characters. As a platform used for communication Twitter can be described as having three key features: simplicity, impulsiveness and incivility.