For more than a decade there has been a powerful drive towards providing care services to older and disabled people in their own homes. Technology is beginning to provide devices and systems to help do this in a practical way that not only benefits service users and their carers but also has the potential to be very cost-effective. However, the ethics of telecare will increasingly demand attention. We will also need to address the problems of social isolation likely to be exposed by care systems designed to use electronic assistive technology.