Barbara Ortutay and Andrew Selsky, Associated Press via Chicago Tribune; FTC, states increase pressure on Facebook on privacy
"U.S. regulators and state attorneys general are increasing pressure on Facebook as they probe whether the company's data-collection practices have hurt the people who use its services.
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed news reports on Monday that it was investigating the company. Separately, the attorneys general for 37 U.S. states and territories sought details Monday on how Facebook monitored what app developers did with data collected on Facebook users and whether Facebook had safeguards to prevent misuse...
Facebook is also facing questions about reports that it collected years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and information about text messages from Android users. Facebook says the data is used "to improve people's experience across Facebook" by helping to connect with others. But the company did not spell out exactly what it used the data for or why it needed it."
Monday, March 26, 2018
Saturday, March 24, 2018
‘A grand illusion’: seven days that shattered Facebook’s facade; Guardian, March 24, 2018
Olivia Solon, Guardian; ‘A grand illusion’: seven days that shattered Facebook’s facade
"For too long consumers have thought about privacy on Facebook in terms of whether their ex-boyfriends or bosses could see their photos. However, as we fiddle around with our profile privacy settings, the real intrusions have been taking place elsewhere.
“In this sense, Facebook’s ‘privacy settings’ are a grand illusion. Control over post-sharing – people we share to – should really be called ‘publicity settings’,” explains Jonathan Albright, the research director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. “Likewise, control over passive sharing – the information people [including third party apps] can take from us – should be called ‘privacy settings’.”
Essentially Facebook gives us privacy “busywork” to make us think we have control, while making it very difficult to truly lock down our accounts."
"For too long consumers have thought about privacy on Facebook in terms of whether their ex-boyfriends or bosses could see their photos. However, as we fiddle around with our profile privacy settings, the real intrusions have been taking place elsewhere.
“In this sense, Facebook’s ‘privacy settings’ are a grand illusion. Control over post-sharing – people we share to – should really be called ‘publicity settings’,” explains Jonathan Albright, the research director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. “Likewise, control over passive sharing – the information people [including third party apps] can take from us – should be called ‘privacy settings’.”
Essentially Facebook gives us privacy “busywork” to make us think we have control, while making it very difficult to truly lock down our accounts."
Computer science faces an ethics crisis. The Cambridge Analytica scandal proves it.; Boston Globe, March 22, 2018
Yonatan Zunger, Boston Globe;
Computer science faces an ethics crisis. The Cambridge Analytica scandal proves it.
"Software engineers continue to treat safety and ethics as specialities, rather than the foundations of all design; young engineers believe they just need to learn to code, change the world, disrupt something. Business leaders focus on getting a product out fast, confident that they will not be held to account if that product fails catastrophically. Simultaneously imagining their products as changing the world and not being important enough to require safety precautions, they behave like kids in a shop full of loaded AK-47’s...
Underpinning all of these need to be systems for deciding on what computer science ethics should be, and how they should be enforced. These will need to be built by a consensus among the stakeholders in the field, from industry, to academia, to capital, and most importantly, among the engineers and the public, who are ultimately most affected. It must be done with particular attention to diversity of representation. In computer science, more than any other field, system failures tend to affect people in different social contexts (race, gender, class, geography, disability) differently. Familiarity with the details of real life in these different contexts is required to prevent disaster...
What stands between these is attention to the core questions of engineering: to what uses might a system be put? How might it fail? And how will it behave when it does? Computer science must step up to the bar set by its sister fields, before its own bridge collapse — or worse, its own Hiroshima."
Pitt makes disciplinary moves after department implicated in sex-harassment investigation; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 22, 2018
Peter Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pitt makes disciplinary moves after department implicated in sex-harassment investigation
"The University of Pittsburgh has disciplined an unspecified number of people associated with its Department of Communication after an investigation found violations of university policy and federal law against gender discrimination.
"The University of Pittsburgh has disciplined an unspecified number of people associated with its Department of Communication after an investigation found violations of university policy and federal law against gender discrimination.
The investigation, triggered by past and recent allegations of sexual harassment and sexual relationships between staff and students, “found a consistent pattern in which women were not as valued and respected as their male colleagues,” said a statement by Kathleen M. Blee, the dean of Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences.
“This resulted in an environment in which the inappropriate acts of the few were tolerated by the silence of others,” she acknowledged.
“The investigations revealed failures of systems and failures of character,” her statement added."
Driverless cars raise so many ethical questions. Here are just a few of them.; San Diego Union-Tribune, March 23, 2018
Lawrence M. Hinman, San Diego Union-Tribune; Driverless cars raise so many ethical questions. Here are just a few of them.
"Even more troubling will be the algorithms themselves, even if the engineering works flawlessly. How are we going to program autonomous vehicles when they are faced with a choice among competing evils? Should they be programmed to harm or kill the smallest number of people, swerving to avoid hitting two people but unavoidably hitting one? (This is the famous “trolley problem” that has vexed philosophers and moral psychologists for over half a century.)
Should your car be programmed to avoid crashing into a group of schoolchildren, even if that means driving you off the side of a cliff? Most of us would opt for maximizing the number of lives saved, except when one of those lives belongs to us or our loved ones.
These are questions that take us to the heart of the moral life in a technological society. They are already part of a lively and nuanced discussion among philosophers, engineers, policy makers and technologists. It is a conversation to which the larger public should be invited.
The ethics of dealing with autonomous systems will be a central issue of the coming decades."
"Even more troubling will be the algorithms themselves, even if the engineering works flawlessly. How are we going to program autonomous vehicles when they are faced with a choice among competing evils? Should they be programmed to harm or kill the smallest number of people, swerving to avoid hitting two people but unavoidably hitting one? (This is the famous “trolley problem” that has vexed philosophers and moral psychologists for over half a century.)
Should your car be programmed to avoid crashing into a group of schoolchildren, even if that means driving you off the side of a cliff? Most of us would opt for maximizing the number of lives saved, except when one of those lives belongs to us or our loved ones.
These are questions that take us to the heart of the moral life in a technological society. They are already part of a lively and nuanced discussion among philosophers, engineers, policy makers and technologists. It is a conversation to which the larger public should be invited.
The ethics of dealing with autonomous systems will be a central issue of the coming decades."
Can Self-Driving Cars Be Engineered to Be Ethical?; Voice of America, March 21, 2018
Bryan Lynn reported this story for VOA Learning English. Additional information came from Reuters and the Associated Press. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor., Voice of America; Can Self-Driving Cars Be Engineered to Be Ethical?
"Nicholas Evans is a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Massachusetts...
Evans is receiving money from the National Science Foundation to study the ethics of decision-making algorithms in autonomous vehicles. He says self-driving cars need to be programmed to react to many difficult situations. But, he adds, even simple driving activities – such as having vehicles enter a busy street – can be dangerous...
One of the most basic questions is how to decide the value of human lives. Evans says most people do not like to think about this question. But, he says, it is highly important in developing self-driving technology...
“So this is one of the really tricky questions behind autonomous vehicles – is how do you value different people's lives and how do you program a car to value different people's lives.”"
"Nicholas Evans is a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Massachusetts...
Evans is receiving money from the National Science Foundation to study the ethics of decision-making algorithms in autonomous vehicles. He says self-driving cars need to be programmed to react to many difficult situations. But, he adds, even simple driving activities – such as having vehicles enter a busy street – can be dangerous...
One of the most basic questions is how to decide the value of human lives. Evans says most people do not like to think about this question. But, he says, it is highly important in developing self-driving technology...
“So this is one of the really tricky questions behind autonomous vehicles – is how do you value different people's lives and how do you program a car to value different people's lives.”"
THE LOSE-LOSE ETHICS OF TESTING SELF-DRIVING CARS IN PUBLIC; Wired, March 23, 2018
Aarian Marshall, Wired; THE LOSE-LOSE ETHICS OF TESTING SELF-DRIVING CARS IN PUBLIC
"The unfortunate truth is that there will always be tradeoffs. A functioning society should probably create space—even beyond the metaphorical sense—to research and then develop potentially life-saving technology. If you’re interested in humanity’s long-term health and survival, this is a good thing. (Even failure can be instructive here. What didn’t work, and why?) But a functioning society should also strive to guarantee that its citizens aren’t killed in the midst of beta testing. We’ve made this work for experimental drugs, finding an agreeable balance between risking lives today and saving them tomorrow."
"The unfortunate truth is that there will always be tradeoffs. A functioning society should probably create space—even beyond the metaphorical sense—to research and then develop potentially life-saving technology. If you’re interested in humanity’s long-term health and survival, this is a good thing. (Even failure can be instructive here. What didn’t work, and why?) But a functioning society should also strive to guarantee that its citizens aren’t killed in the midst of beta testing. We’ve made this work for experimental drugs, finding an agreeable balance between risking lives today and saving them tomorrow."
Thursday, March 22, 2018
There Are No Guardrails on Our Privacy Dystopia; Motherboard, March 9, 2018
David Golumbia and Chris Gilliard, Motherboard; There Are No Guardrails on Our Privacy Dystopia
"The Time Well Spent movement has proposed a “Hippocratic Oath for technology:” first, do no harm. Tech companies—and tech advocates more generally, even those outside of companies—have demonstrated that they are neither capable nor responsible enough to imagine what harms their technologies may do. If there is any hope for building digital technology that does not include an open door to wolves, recent experience has demonstrated that this must include robust engagement from the non-technical—expert and amateur alike—not just in response to the effects of technologies, but to the proposed functions of those technologies in the first place."
"The Time Well Spent movement has proposed a “Hippocratic Oath for technology:” first, do no harm. Tech companies—and tech advocates more generally, even those outside of companies—have demonstrated that they are neither capable nor responsible enough to imagine what harms their technologies may do. If there is any hope for building digital technology that does not include an open door to wolves, recent experience has demonstrated that this must include robust engagement from the non-technical—expert and amateur alike—not just in response to the effects of technologies, but to the proposed functions of those technologies in the first place."
A Huge Global Study On Driverless Car Ethics Found The Elderly Are Expendable; Forbes, March 21, 2018
Oliver Smith, Forbes; A Huge Global Study On Driverless Car Ethics Found The Elderly Are Expendable
"Over the last year, 4 million people took part by answering ethical questions in Moral Machine's many scenarios – which include different combinations of genders, ages, and even other species like cats and dogs, crossing the road.
On Sunday, the day before the first pedestrian fatality by an autonomous car in America, MIT's Professor Iyad Rahwan revealed the first results of the Moral Machine study at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai."
"Over the last year, 4 million people took part by answering ethical questions in Moral Machine's many scenarios – which include different combinations of genders, ages, and even other species like cats and dogs, crossing the road.
On Sunday, the day before the first pedestrian fatality by an autonomous car in America, MIT's Professor Iyad Rahwan revealed the first results of the Moral Machine study at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai."
Feds: Pitt professor agrees to pay government more than $130K to resolve claims of research grant misdeeds; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 21, 2018
Sean D. Hamill and Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Feds: Pitt professor agrees to pay government more than $130K to resolve claims of research grant misdeeds
"A star researcher at the University of Pittsburgh has agreed to pay the U.S. government more than $130,000 to resolve allegations that he submitted false documents to the National Science Foundation to get more than $2.3 million in federal research grants, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh announced Wednesday.
"A star researcher at the University of Pittsburgh has agreed to pay the U.S. government more than $130,000 to resolve allegations that he submitted false documents to the National Science Foundation to get more than $2.3 million in federal research grants, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh announced Wednesday.
As part of the settlement, psychology professor Christian D. Schunn, 48, will not be allowed to apply for or be involved with any federal grants through Oct. 15, 2019, according to a press release. He will have to withdraw from any applications pending for federal funding, the government said."
It’s Time to Regulate the Internet; The Atlantic, March 21, 2018
Franklin Foer, The Atlantic; It’s Time to Regulate the Internet
"If we step back, we can see it clearly: Facebook’s business model is the evisceration of privacy. That is, it aims to adduce its users into sharing personal information—what the company has called “radical transparency”—and then aims to surveil users to generate the insights that will keep them “engaged” on its site and to precisely target them with ads. Although Mark Zuckerberg will nod in the direction of privacy, he has been candid about his true feelings. In 2010 he said, for instance, that privacy is no longer a “social norm.” (Once upon a time, in a fit of juvenile triumphalism, he even called people “dumb fucks” for trusting him with their data.) And executives in the company seem to understand the consequence of their apparatus. When I recently sat on a panel with a representative of Facebook, he admitted that he hadn’t used the site for years because he was concerned with protecting himself against invasive forces.
We need to constantly recall this ideological indifference to privacy, because there should be nothing shocking about the carelessness revealed in the Cambridge Analytica episode...
Facebook turned data—which amounts to an X-ray of the inner self—into a commodity traded without our knowledge."
"If we step back, we can see it clearly: Facebook’s business model is the evisceration of privacy. That is, it aims to adduce its users into sharing personal information—what the company has called “radical transparency”—and then aims to surveil users to generate the insights that will keep them “engaged” on its site and to precisely target them with ads. Although Mark Zuckerberg will nod in the direction of privacy, he has been candid about his true feelings. In 2010 he said, for instance, that privacy is no longer a “social norm.” (Once upon a time, in a fit of juvenile triumphalism, he even called people “dumb fucks” for trusting him with their data.) And executives in the company seem to understand the consequence of their apparatus. When I recently sat on a panel with a representative of Facebook, he admitted that he hadn’t used the site for years because he was concerned with protecting himself against invasive forces.
We need to constantly recall this ideological indifference to privacy, because there should be nothing shocking about the carelessness revealed in the Cambridge Analytica episode...
Facebook turned data—which amounts to an X-ray of the inner self—into a commodity traded without our knowledge."
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Ben Carson Defends Buying $31,000 Dining Set to Congress: ‘I Left It to My Wife’; New York Times, March 20, 2018
Glenn Thrush, New York Times; Ben Carson Defends Buying $31,000 Dining Set to Congress: ‘I Left It to My Wife’
[Kip Currier: HUD Secretary Ben Carson's statement in the excerpt below is the money quote take-away from this article.
Ethics is not only about the substantive impacts of actions but also about how those actions look to other people: The messages--both spoken and unspoken--that our actions communicate about our own values.
A phrase often heard regarding ethical issues is "air of impropriety", meaning that an action has a sense of not seeming "right", of not being "above board", of not looking good. Even if an action may technically be legal or ethical.
Good ethical decision-making includes consideration of our own internal compasses and the external signals that our actions send to other people. Not just in the current buzzphrase sense of "the optics" of something, but what we are communicating about our priorities and values.
Ethical leadership--especially public service--is concerned with promoting trust in the integrity of our leaders, our institutions, our democratic values and ideals. Being mindful about how something looks--the example we set for others--is an integral component of ethical leadership. That's worth thinking about.]
[Kip Currier: HUD Secretary Ben Carson's statement in the excerpt below is the money quote take-away from this article.
Ethics is not only about the substantive impacts of actions but also about how those actions look to other people: The messages--both spoken and unspoken--that our actions communicate about our own values.
A phrase often heard regarding ethical issues is "air of impropriety", meaning that an action has a sense of not seeming "right", of not being "above board", of not looking good. Even if an action may technically be legal or ethical.
Good ethical decision-making includes consideration of our own internal compasses and the external signals that our actions send to other people. Not just in the current buzzphrase sense of "the optics" of something, but what we are communicating about our priorities and values.
Ethical leadership--especially public service--is concerned with promoting trust in the integrity of our leaders, our institutions, our democratic values and ideals. Being mindful about how something looks--the example we set for others--is an integral component of ethical leadership. That's worth thinking about.]
"On Tuesday, Mr. Carson defended that decision, saying that his son had not profited from his father’s government post.
“HUD’s ethics counsel suggested it might look funny, but I’m not a person who spends a lot of time thinking about how something looks,” Mr. Carson said."
Monday, March 19, 2018
Who stole 314 items from the Carnegie Library rare books room?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 19, 2018
Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Who stole 314 items from the Carnegie Library rare books room?
[Kip Currier: A very troubling story that will serve as a springboard for my 3/20/18 lecture/discussion of public relations crisis management in my Managing and Leading Information Services course. A few weeks ago, I gave a lecture I've been doing the past 10 years+ on "Managing Legal Issues in Libraries and Information Centers" that includes a geographically diverse "Rogues' Gallery" (props to DC Comics' The Flash comic book for the memorable appellation!) of persons identified over the past decade, who have been alleged to have committed library-related infractions and have been convicted of library-related crimes. The individual (or individuals) who perpetrated this brazen theft of rare books from the venerable Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main Library and breach of public trust can be added to the Rogues' Gallery if/when apprehended and adjudicated.]
"Mr. Vinson believes that the thief may have been a library employee or employees because only a handful of people knew the security procedures.
[Kip Currier: A very troubling story that will serve as a springboard for my 3/20/18 lecture/discussion of public relations crisis management in my Managing and Leading Information Services course. A few weeks ago, I gave a lecture I've been doing the past 10 years+ on "Managing Legal Issues in Libraries and Information Centers" that includes a geographically diverse "Rogues' Gallery" (props to DC Comics' The Flash comic book for the memorable appellation!) of persons identified over the past decade, who have been alleged to have committed library-related infractions and have been convicted of library-related crimes. The individual (or individuals) who perpetrated this brazen theft of rare books from the venerable Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main Library and breach of public trust can be added to the Rogues' Gallery if/when apprehended and adjudicated.]
"Mr. Vinson believes that the thief may have been a library employee or employees because only a handful of people knew the security procedures.
“The books were immensely valuable. But they were also across a wide variety of fields,” he said.” Only a few people have that knowledge — a general antiquarian bookseller, a librarian or a curator would know the value. It has inside written all over it.”"
Where's Zuck? Facebook CEO silent as data harvesting scandal unfolds; Guardian, March 19, 2018
Julia Carrie Wong, Guardian; Where's Zuck? Facebook CEO silent as data harvesting scandal unfolds
Regarding Facebook's handling of the revelations to date:
"The chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has remained silent over the more than 48 hours since the Observer revealed the harvesting of 50 million users’ personal data, even as his company is buffeted by mounting calls for investigation and regulation, falling stock prices, and a social media campaign to #DeleteFacebook...
Also on Monday, the New York Times reported that Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, would be leaving the company following disagreements with other executives over the handling of the investigation into the Russian influence operation...
Stamos is one of a small handful of Facebook executives who addressed the data harvesting scandal on Twitter over the weekend while Zuckerberg and Facebook’s chief operating officer, Shery Sandberg, said nothing."
[Kip Currier:
Scott Galloway, clinical professor of
marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, made some strong
statements about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal on
MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle show yesterday.
Regarding Facebook's handling of the revelations to date:
"This
is a textbook example of how not to handle a crisis."
He
referred to Facebook's leadership as "tone-deaf management" that
initially denied a breach had occurred, and then subsequently deleted Tweets
saying that it was wrong to call what had occurred a breach.
Galloway also said
that "Facebook has embraced celebrity but refused to embrace its
responsibilities". He contrasted Facebook's ineffectual current crisis management to how Johnson
& Johnson demonstrated decisive leadership and accountability during the
"tampered Tylenol bottles" crisis the latter faced in the 1980's.]
"The chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has remained silent over the more than 48 hours since the Observer revealed the harvesting of 50 million users’ personal data, even as his company is buffeted by mounting calls for investigation and regulation, falling stock prices, and a social media campaign to #DeleteFacebook...
Also on Monday, the New York Times reported that Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, would be leaving the company following disagreements with other executives over the handling of the investigation into the Russian influence operation...
Stamos is one of a small handful of Facebook executives who addressed the data harvesting scandal on Twitter over the weekend while Zuckerberg and Facebook’s chief operating officer, Shery Sandberg, said nothing."
Oscar Munoz's tough ride as United CEO; CNN, March 19, 2018
Julia Horowitz, CNN; Oscar Munoz's tough ride as United CEO
""There's something about the United culture that has employees making decisions that are not the right things to do," [John Strong, a professor of business administration at the College of William and Mary and an airline industry expert] said.
Another high-profile event could be the final straw, according to Reber. Even if Munoz isn't directly implicated, he could wind up taking the fall.
"History is littered with CEOs who have had to take a hit for a crisis that happened and was caused someplace else in the organization," Reber said."
""There's something about the United culture that has employees making decisions that are not the right things to do," [John Strong, a professor of business administration at the College of William and Mary and an airline industry expert] said.
Another high-profile event could be the final straw, according to Reber. Even if Munoz isn't directly implicated, he could wind up taking the fall.
"History is littered with CEOs who have had to take a hit for a crisis that happened and was caused someplace else in the organization," Reber said."
Data scandal is huge blow for Facebook – and efforts to study its impact on society; Guardian, March 18, 2018
Olivia Solon, Guardian; Data scandal is huge blow for Facebook – and efforts to study its impact on society
"The revelation that 50 million people had their Facebook profiles harvested so Cambridge Analytica could target them with political ads is a huge blow to the social network that raises questions about its approach to data protection and disclosure.
"The revelation that 50 million people had their Facebook profiles harvested so Cambridge Analytica could target them with political ads is a huge blow to the social network that raises questions about its approach to data protection and disclosure.
As Facebook executives wrangle on Twitter over the semantics of whether this constitutes a “breach”, the result for users is the same: personal data extracted from the platform and used for a purpose to which they did not consent.
Facebook has a complicated track record on privacy. Its business model is built on gathering data. It knows your real name, who your friends are, your likes and interests, where you have been, what websites you have visited, what you look like and how you speak."
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Can Higher Education Make Silicon Valley More Ethical?; Chronicle of Higher Education, March 14, 2018
Nell Gluckman, Chronicle of Higher Education; Can Higher Education Make Silicon Valley More Ethical?
"Jim Malazita, an assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, hopes to infuse ethics lessons into core computer-science courses."...
"Q. You mentioned you’ve been getting some pushback.
A. I’ve had to do a lot of social work with computer-science faculty. The faculty were like, This sounds cool, but will they still be able to move on in computer science? We’re using different, messier data sets. Will they still understand the formal aspects of computing?
Q. What do you tell faculty members to convince them that this is a good use of your students’ time?
A. I use a couple of strategies that sometimes work, sometimes don’t. It’s surprisingly important to talk about my own technical expertise. I only moved into social science and humanities as a Ph.D. student. As an undergraduate, my degree was in digital media design. So you can trust me with this content.
It’s helpful to also cast it in terms of helping women and underrepresented-minority retention in computer science. These questions have an impact on all students, but especially women and underrepresented minorities who are used to having their voices marginalized. The faculty want those numbers up."
"Jim Malazita, an assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, hopes to infuse ethics lessons into core computer-science courses."...
"Q. You mentioned you’ve been getting some pushback.
A. I’ve had to do a lot of social work with computer-science faculty. The faculty were like, This sounds cool, but will they still be able to move on in computer science? We’re using different, messier data sets. Will they still understand the formal aspects of computing?
Q. What do you tell faculty members to convince them that this is a good use of your students’ time?
A. I use a couple of strategies that sometimes work, sometimes don’t. It’s surprisingly important to talk about my own technical expertise. I only moved into social science and humanities as a Ph.D. student. As an undergraduate, my degree was in digital media design. So you can trust me with this content.
It’s helpful to also cast it in terms of helping women and underrepresented-minority retention in computer science. These questions have an impact on all students, but especially women and underrepresented minorities who are used to having their voices marginalized. The faculty want those numbers up."
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Why Software Developers Should Take Ethics Into Consideration; InfoQ, March 8, 2018
Ben Linders, InfoQ;
"Most of the software that influences the behavior of human beings wasn’t created with strong ethical constructs around it. Software developers should ask themselves ethical questions like "who does this affect?", "who could get hurt by this?", and "who does this disadvantage or advantage?", try to answer them, and be comfortable with questions they can’t answer yet.
Theo Schlossnagle, CEO of Circonus, spoke about professional ethics for software developers atQCon London 2018. InfoQ is covering this conference with Q&As, presentations, summaries, and articles.
"Most of the software that influences the behavior of human beings wasn’t created with strong ethical constructs around it. Software developers should ask themselves ethical questions like "who does this affect?", "who could get hurt by this?", and "who does this disadvantage or advantage?", try to answer them, and be comfortable with questions they can’t answer yet.
Theo Schlossnagle, CEO of Circonus, spoke about professional ethics for software developers atQCon London 2018. InfoQ is covering this conference with Q&As, presentations, summaries, and articles.
InfoQ interviewed Schlossnagle about the importance of ethics, what developers can do to incorporate ethical considerations, and asked him what the consequences of unethical software should be.
InfoQ: What makes ethics important for software developers?
Theo Schlossnagle: If you look around, the vast majority of people that are working today in our industry, writing code, making decisions that impact users, haven’t had an intense ethics course in their life. They haven’t taken an ethics course in high school, they haven’t taken an ethics course in college. It doesn’t mean that they don’t know ethics, ethics are pretty innate in human beings. There’s a playbook for discussing ethics; there’s a playbook for contemplating them; there’s not a playbook for answering them.The question is what your mental model is for making yourself answer those questions instead of just avoiding them and pretend they don’t exist.We have 30 years of software development, and the last 10 to 15 of those have been hyper-accelerated software development. We have software all over the place that influences the behavior of human beings, and we didn’t create that software with strong ethical constructs around it."
The technology industry needs a set of professional ethics; Baltimore Sun, March 8, 2018
Adil E. Shamoo. Baltimore Sun; The technology industry needs a set of professional ethics
"In a wider view, using an ethical framework in scientific enterprise disperses ethical principles throughout society; patients and consumers adopt these ethical standards and come to expect and even extend these standards to other endeavors.
But we have failed to develop an ethical framework when it comes to technology or to understand the impact new media would have on our behavior and societal relationships.
We need to examine the current landscape of ethics within the rapidly expanding technology sector. Just as scientific research has added requirements for classes in ethics in research, the tech sector must develop widespread ethical educational efforts. The lack of firm ethical principles allowed a serious disruption to our 2016 political election and is changing the brains of social media users and rapidly changing the workplace and our economy. What has become commonplace has become acceptable. Robots replace humans in jobs; testing of consumer behavior without consent is unquestioned; acceptability of facial and voice recognition is rarely challenged even though misuse and privacy issues are frightening; and vitriolic, divisive missives are the norm on social media."
Exploring AI ethics and accountability; Politico.eu, March 5, 2018
Nirvi Shah, Politico.eu; Exploring AI ethics and accountability
"In this special report on the future of artificial intelligence, we explore the technology’s implications. Are people ready to trust their lives to driverless cars? What about an AI doctor? Who’s to blame when price-setting algorithms work together to collude?
We also spoke to Armin Grunwald, an adviser to the German parliament tasked with mapping out the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Grunwald, it turns out, has an answer to the trolley problem.
This article is part of the special report Confronting the Future of AI."
"In this special report on the future of artificial intelligence, we explore the technology’s implications. Are people ready to trust their lives to driverless cars? What about an AI doctor? Who’s to blame when price-setting algorithms work together to collude?
We also spoke to Armin Grunwald, an adviser to the German parliament tasked with mapping out the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Grunwald, it turns out, has an answer to the trolley problem.
This article is part of the special report Confronting the Future of AI."
UT computer science adding ethics courses to curriculum; KXAN, March 5, 2018
Alyssa Goard, KXAN; UT computer science adding ethics courses to curriculum
"Barbary Brunner, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, believes that what these ethics courses at UT are “a really valuable thing.” She explained that as companies in the tech world search for new ways to disrupt old ideas, it’s important to look at the human implications of what they’re setting out to do.
“This may be where the university leads the industry and the industry wakes up and says, ‘Wow that’s really smart,'” Brunner said. “For Texas to become a real tech powerhouse– which I think it can become — it needs to engage in the same sort of collaboration between higher education and the technology community that you see in California, that you see in the Seattle area.”
Brunner hasn’t heard many overarching discussions of ethics within the Austin tech world, but knows that individual discussions about ethics are going on at many companies, especially those related to security and artificial intelligence.
In the long run she thinks that ethics training may become one of many qualities tech companies look for in the recent graduates they hire."
"Barbary Brunner, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, believes that what these ethics courses at UT are “a really valuable thing.” She explained that as companies in the tech world search for new ways to disrupt old ideas, it’s important to look at the human implications of what they’re setting out to do.
“This may be where the university leads the industry and the industry wakes up and says, ‘Wow that’s really smart,'” Brunner said. “For Texas to become a real tech powerhouse– which I think it can become — it needs to engage in the same sort of collaboration between higher education and the technology community that you see in California, that you see in the Seattle area.”
Brunner hasn’t heard many overarching discussions of ethics within the Austin tech world, but knows that individual discussions about ethics are going on at many companies, especially those related to security and artificial intelligence.
In the long run she thinks that ethics training may become one of many qualities tech companies look for in the recent graduates they hire."
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
When it comes to this White House, the fish rots from the head; Washington Post, March 7, 2018
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post; When it comes to this White House, the fish rots from the head
"“Make no mistake about it, if Trump does not fire Kellyanne Conway after THREE Hatch Act violations another redline will be crossed,” tweeted Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics counsel during the Obama administration. “He will be saying breaking the law does not matter — I will pardon away any sins.” Eisen added: “Well, it does matter, and the American people will not tolerate it.” Richard Painter, who was George W. Bush’s ethics counsel, weighed in as well. “In any other White House, a single major ethics violation would result in dismissal,” he wrote on Twitter. “This is her third, and all three within the same year. She needs to go.” But we surely know she won’t — at least not for this.
The expectation of compliance with the law and concern about the appearance of impropriety are entirely absent from this administration for one very simple reason: Trump has set the standard and the example. Don’t bother with the rules. If caught, just make up stuff."
"“Make no mistake about it, if Trump does not fire Kellyanne Conway after THREE Hatch Act violations another redline will be crossed,” tweeted Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics counsel during the Obama administration. “He will be saying breaking the law does not matter — I will pardon away any sins.” Eisen added: “Well, it does matter, and the American people will not tolerate it.” Richard Painter, who was George W. Bush’s ethics counsel, weighed in as well. “In any other White House, a single major ethics violation would result in dismissal,” he wrote on Twitter. “This is her third, and all three within the same year. She needs to go.” But we surely know she won’t — at least not for this.
The expectation of compliance with the law and concern about the appearance of impropriety are entirely absent from this administration for one very simple reason: Trump has set the standard and the example. Don’t bother with the rules. If caught, just make up stuff."
Top priest shares ‘The Ten Commandments of A.I.’ for ethical computing; internet of business, February 28, 2018
Chris Middleton, internet of business; Top priest shares ‘The Ten Commandments of A.I.’ for ethical computing
"A senior clergyman and government advisor has written what he calls “the Ten Commandments of AI”, to ensure the technology is applied ethically and for social good.
AI has been put forward as the saviour of businesses and national economies, but how to ensure that the technology isn’t abused? The Rt Rev the Lord Bishop of Oxford (pictured below), a Member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, set out his proposals at a policy debate in London, attended by representatives of government, academia, and the business world.
Speaking on 27 February at a Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Innovation, Funding and Policy Priorities, the Bishop set out his ten-point plan, after chairing a debate on trust, ethics, and cybersecurity."
"A senior clergyman and government advisor has written what he calls “the Ten Commandments of AI”, to ensure the technology is applied ethically and for social good.
AI has been put forward as the saviour of businesses and national economies, but how to ensure that the technology isn’t abused? The Rt Rev the Lord Bishop of Oxford (pictured below), a Member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, set out his proposals at a policy debate in London, attended by representatives of government, academia, and the business world.
Speaking on 27 February at a Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Innovation, Funding and Policy Priorities, the Bishop set out his ten-point plan, after chairing a debate on trust, ethics, and cybersecurity."
Ethics and AI conference launched by CMU, K&L Gates; Pittsburgh Business Times, March 6, 2018
Patty Tascarella, Pittsburgh Business Times; Ethics and AI conference launched by CMU, K&L Gates
"The inaugural Carnegie Mellon University-K&L Gates Conference on Ethics and Artificial Intelligence is slated for April 9-10.
Leaders from industry, academia and government will explore ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies at the two-day event in Pittsburgh."
"The inaugural Carnegie Mellon University-K&L Gates Conference on Ethics and Artificial Intelligence is slated for April 9-10.
Leaders from industry, academia and government will explore ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies at the two-day event in Pittsburgh."
ABA Webinar: Thursday, March 8, 2018
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Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Here’s how Canada can be a global leader in ethical AI; The Conversation, February 22, 2018
The Conversation; Here’s how Canada can be a global leader in ethical AI
"Putting Canada in the lead
"Putting Canada in the lead
Canada has a clear choice. Either it embraces the potential of being a leader in responsible AI, or it risks legitimating a race to the bottom where ethics, equity and justice are absent.
Better guidance for researchers on how the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedomsrelates to AI research and development is a good first step. From there, Canada can create a just, equitable and stable foundation for a research agenda that situates the new technology within longstanding social institutions.
Canada also needs a more coordinated, inclusive national effort that prioritizes otherwise marginalized voices. These consultations will be key to positioning Canada as a beacon in this field.
Without these measures, Canada could lag behind. Europe is already drafting important new approaches to data protection. New York City launched a task force this fall to become a global leader on governing automated decision making. We hope this leads to active consultation with city agencies, academics across the sciences and the humanities as well as community groups, from Data for Black Lives to Picture the Homeless, and consideration of algorithmic impact assessments.
These initiatives should provide a helpful context as Canada develops its own governance strategy and works out how to include Indigenous knowledge within that.
If Canada develops a strong national strategy approach to AI governance that works across sectors and disciplines, it can lead at the global level.
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