obvious, so it’s useful to identify the moral assumptions that informed the
analysis.
These values and assumptions will not be the same for everyone. In most
Western cultures, individual freedom and self-determination are valued over
institutional efficiency or collective power. As a result, Westerners are likely
to evaluate persuasive technology products as ethical when they enhance
individual freedom and unethical when they empower institutions at the ex
-
pense of individuals. Other cultures may assess the ethics of technology differ
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ently, valuing community needs over individual freedoms.
Education Is Key
This chapter has covered a range of ethical issues related to persuasive technol-
ogies. Some of these issues, such as the use of computers to ...