Confronting the communication complex: Information without communication is useless, and communication without information is empty. The ethics of communication shares the podium with the ethics of information in the new information age.

Information is not useful, even if truthful and accurate, unless it is used. Hence, it needs to be communicated. The communication process, which is developing at an exponential rate, is central to the information age. The virtues of truthfulness and accuracy carry over into communication. But there are elements of communication that pose their own ethical issues: communication of what, to whom, in what form?

In the information age, the communication explosion has resulted in information overload. There is more information than any individual can absorb. The instantaneous communication made possible by computers and the Internet opens the lines of communication to all, in an environment in which anyone can say or publish anything. There is no peer review or editorial overview before something gets published on the Web. And anonymity makes possible irresponsibility. In the name of the freedom of speech that we so cherish, more and more is posted on the World Wide Web under the guise of information. The result is that it is difficult to know what to believe and what to trust as reliable. The function that was previously filled by peer review, editors, and the cost of publication has been eradicated in web publishing. We need some comparable authenticators, which I shall call authentication centers.

In the industrial world, Consumer Reports and similar independent groups could test and give impartial judgments about products. Similar independent authenticators are needed with respect to information on the Web. For instance, which web sites that carry medical information are reliable and authoritative, and which are not? The need for centers of this type in all areas of information is crucial if people are to benefit from the information available, and if they are to be kept from being harmed by the available misinformation and falsehoods, whether deliberate or unintended.

The same is true with respect to business, both for consumers and for suppliers of information. The lines between information and advertising, between information and brainwashing or manipulation, between information and self-interest are crucial. Two examples illustrate the point.

One is the review of books that people see upon going to Amazon.com. The only way such reviews will carry weight with viewers is if they can be sure the reviews are not simply paid for by the book publisher, and that Amazon.com is not paid to promote the book. If either is the case, then the review should be identified as an advertisement, as advertisements are identified in newspapers. The function of authenticator and of advertiser must be kept separate.

The second example is search engines that bring up businesses or organizations as the first few entries in any search. These businesses or organizations pay to have their sites mentioned first. If search engines are to be trusted, they should give the web sites closest to what one requests in a search, not the site that pays the most. If the latter is the standard, then that should be clearly stated, lest once again the distinction between authenticator and advertiser become blurred.

In this brief discussion, I have mentioned a number of other virtues besides truthfulness and accuracy - namely, trust or trustworthiness, and reliability. The four go together and form the basis for a smooth-functioning information processing system. The application of these four key virtues to business is part of the task for the business ethicist.

Next Section