Ethically Inspired Care Information Technology Can Enable Freedom of Choice of Older Users 

The goal of this paper is to present the ethical issues that are relevant at the concept development stage and inspiring its development during the CONFIDENCE (Ubiquitous Care System to Support Independent Living) project. We propose that the technology must support principles such as human rights, privacy, safety, and dignity. The voluntary contribution of people as participants in research must undergo the scrutiny of research plans by ethical review boards. Informed consent processes and procedures must be observed in this realm. Ethical issues arising in heterogeneous fields involving technology, end-users, service providers, and formal and informal caregivers pose important challenges. Attempting to maximize the ethical compliance of the results of this ICT (information and communication technology) project, we explore and suggest preventive measures for possible scenarios of misuse of this or related technology. Concluding, the observation of ethical principles throughout the development process can empower users to make informed decisions on the acceptance of ICT systems and services when these reach the market.

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