Abstract. The pervasive use of information and communication technology (ICT) in modern societies enables countless opportunities for individuals, institutions, businesses and scientists, but also raises difficult ethical and social problems. In particular, ICT helped to make societies more complex and thus harder to understand, which impedes social and political interventions to avoid harm and to increase the common good. To overcome this obstacle, the large-scale EU flagship proposal FuturICT intends to create a platform for accessing global human knowledge as a public good and instruments to increase our understanding of the information society by making use of ICT-based research. In this contribution, we outline the ethical justification for such an endeavor. We argue that the ethical issues raised by FuturICT research projects overlap substantially with many of the known ethical problems emerging from ICT use in general. By referring to the notion of Value Sensitive Design, we show for the example of privacy how this core value of responsible ICT can be protected in pursuing research in the framework of FuturICT. In addition, we discuss further ethical issues and outline the institutional design of FuturICT allowing to address them. The Moral Case for FuturICTSocieties in the 21st century have reached a level of complexity that has made our understanding of them deeply problematic. Moreover, whatever provisionary understanding we manage to achieve is often outpaced by rapid change and new developments, making social and political interventions difficult. A major driving force of change is information and communication technology (ICT) that created new instruments for social exchange (e.g., social media, social network sites). Political decision makers, however, often have difficulties in keeping track of new media developments and in coming to grips with their dynamics and impact upon society and their varia e-mail: M.J.vandenHoven@tudelft.nl

Background. Recently, we identified specific N-and 6-O-sulphated heparan sulphate (HS) domains on activated glomerular endothelial cells. In this study, we evaluated in lupus nephritis the expression of different HS domains on glomerular endothelium and in the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). Methods. The expression of specific glomerular HS domains and the presence of immunoglobulins (Ig) were determined by immunofluorescence staining of kidney sections of patients with nephritis due to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and MRL/lpr lupus mice. The expression/presence of glomerular HS domains and Ig was also evaluated after eluting Ig from renal sections of lupus mice using two elution methods, and in renal sections of lupus mice treated with heparinoids. Results. Both MRL/lpr mice and patients with lupus nephritis showed a decreased expression of HS in the GBM. The expression of N-and 6-O-sulphated HS domains on glomerular endothelium was decreased in MRL/lpr mice, but increased in SLE patients. MRL/lpr mice had more extensive glomerular Ig deposits than SLE patients. After elution of Ig, the glomerular endothelial expression of N-and 6-O-sulphated HS domains in MRL/lpr mice was recovered and even increased above normal levels, while the expression of HS in the GBM was restored to normal levels. Treatment with heparinoids prevented Ig deposition and preserved the expression of glomerular HS domains at normal levels in lupus mice. Conclusion. The expression of specific HS domains on glomerular endothelium and in the GBM is changed during lupus nephritis due to masking by Ig deposits and induction of inflammatory N-and 6-O-sulphated HS domains.

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