Online Service Providers (OSPs)—such as AOL, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and
Twitter—are increasingly expected to act as good citizens, by aligning their goals
with the needs of societies, supporting the rights of their users (Madelin 2011;
Taddeo and Floridi 2015), and performing their tasks according to “principles of
efficiency, justice, fairness, and respect of current social and cultural values”
(McQuail 1992, 47). These expectations raise questions as to what kind of responsibilities
OSPs should bear, and which ethical principles should guide their actions.
Addressing these questions is a crucial step to understand and shape the role of
OSPs in mature information societies (Floridi 2016). Without a clear understanding
of their responsibilities, we risk ascribing to OSPs a role that is either too powerful
or too little independent. The FBI vs. Apple case,1 Google’s and Yahoo!’s experiences
in China,2 or the involvement of OSPs within the NSA’s PRISM program3
offer good examples of the case in point. However, defining OSPs’ responsibilities
is challenging. Three aspects are particularly problematic: disentangling the implications
of OSPs’ gatekeeping role in information societies; defining fundamental
principles to guide OSPs’ conduct; and contextualising OSPs’ role within the
broader changes brought about by the information revolution.