Digital ethics: Global trends and divergent paths
通过分析71份政府政策文件，用主题模型识别出数字伦理政策的三大主题（负责任技术、数字权利、伦理治理），揭示各国与国际组织的共识与分歧。
This study focuses on how government bodies address digital ethics in their policies. Using a structural topic model (STM), an automated text mining technique, we analyze 71 policy documents published between 2007 and 2022 by national governments and international governmental organizations (IGOs). Our analysis identifies 22 prominent topics clustered into three major themes: the development of responsible technologies , digital rights , and ethical governance . This study provides a comprehensive overview of these topics and themes, including major similarities among and differences between various policies. We reveal the evolution of these themes over time and discuss key elements in policies. While the findings suggest a consensus on core ethical principles guiding the development and uses of digital technologies, significant differences emerge between countries and IGOs regarding the specific topics addressed and the policy priorities. This study contributes to the digital ethics debate by providing a comprehensive overview of prevailing themes in government policies, highlighting both common ground and areas of divergence. We also discuss the implications of these findings and propose directions for future research.