  Quantum information technologies, covering quantum computing, quantum
communication and quantum sensing, are among the most significant technologies
to emerge in recent decades, offering the promise of paradigm-shifting
computational capacity with significant ethical consequences. On a technical
level, the unique features of quantum information processing have consequences
for the imposition of fairness and ethical constraints on computation. Despite
its significance, little if no structured research has been undertaken into the
ethical implications of such quantum technologies. In this paper, we fill this
gap in the literature by presenting a roadmap for ethical quantum computing
(and quantum information processing more generally) that sets out prospective
research programmes. We summarise the key elements of quantum information
processing (focusing on quantum computation) relevant to ethical analysis and
set-out taxonomies for use by researchers considering the ethics of quantum
technologies. In particular, we demonstrate how the unique features of quantum
information processing gives rise to distinct ethical consequences (including
in the context of machine learning). We situate quantum ethics at the
cross-disciplinary intersection of quantum information science, technology
ethics and moral philosophy to assess the impacts of this newly emerging
technology. We provide specific examples of how the emergence of quantum
technologies gives rise to normative and distributional ethical challenges.
Finally, we set out prospective research directions to help inaugurate the
cross-disciplinary field of the ethics of quantum computing.
