1349 Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 73 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6433-3.ch073 Ethical Issues of Emerging ICT Applications ABSTRACT This paper concentrate on a proactive engagement with emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) with the goal of an early identifcation of the ethical issues these technologies are likely to raise. After an overview of the emerging ICTs for the next future (leveraging the results of the EU funded project ETICA), the paper identify the possible ethical consequences. Then the emerging ICTs are evaluated from diferent perspectives for prioritizing technical and policy intervention on them. The question of governance is then addressed with a fnal collection of recommendations for policy makers, industry, researchers and civil society. INTRODUCTION Proactive engagement with emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) should allow an early identification of the ethical is- sues these technologies are likely to raise. This, one could continue the argument, would allow avoiding some of these issues and ensure that the beneficial consequences of technology research and development will outweigh the problematic consequences. This idea is by no means new and in some incarnation or other has influenced the way in which scientific and technological progress is planned and governed. Such proactive engage- ments with novel technologies tend to concentrate on technologies that are either perceived to be problematic from the outset or that have already caused significant ethical issues. It is much less common in areas that are less headline-grabbing, including the area of ICTs. Due to the increasing influence that ICTs have on most areas of life in western industrial- ized nations, there is a growing awareness of the ethical relevance of these technologies. There are numerous high-profile examples of issues, ques- tions or controversies that are directly related to or caused by new ICTs or new areas of application. Noteworthy examples include privacy issues in social network sites, intellectual property questions arising from the activity of search engines or the extent to which states can and should use the capa- bilities of novel technologies to store and analyze data on citizens. In addition to these larger issues which have caused significant public debates, Bernd Carsten Stahl De Monfort University, UK