Ethics Issues in Starting a Website

When we started our a2ethics.org website, we thought that all of our time was going to be learning about and talking about ethics ideas and issues. We really didn't have much of an idea about all the ethics matters we would have to grapple with in running a website.  Yes, we knew we would need to have policies for ethics enthusiasts and a2ethics.org members to consider and consent to in order to join. And we also knew that we have our own responsibilities toward our listeners and readers, the a2ethics.org members and visitors to our site. But that was about it.

Now that we realize there are some thorny ethics issues we continuously have to keep returning to, we would like to share with you what we have learned about the kinds of policies that website-teers should give some time to, because they have consequences--ethics consequences that is.

This podcast series then is for anyone interested in thinking over website basics with an ethics lens in mind.

The first is our talk with a copyright expert, Molly Kleinman, about fair use and other intellectual property concerns, all of which are part of the language and conditions that you would put in a terms of use agreement for the website you are running or planning to manage. 

A2ethics.org, for example, has decided to use a Creative Commons license (www.creativecommons.org). We require two things: attribution and credit for our work and for noncommercial purposes only if you are using it. We continue to work on our terms of use conditions to reflect our values and our goals for the site and our group, and hope to have these available on the site soon.

Upcoming podcasts in this series will include conversations on website policies for:

1. Privacy

2. Nonpartisanship

3. Mistakes and errors

4. Conflicts of Interest and Transparency

5. Acceptance of Contributions, Grants and Gifts

Yea, we know that we could  use the standard boilerplate language and documents that most other websites rely on to decide on these issues. But our conversation with Molly Kleinman made us think it  otherwise. In addition to this podcast on fair use and copyright ethics, please go to Molly Kleinman's informative website on these issues: http://www.mollykleinman.com.