Individual (moral), social (ethical), legal and cultural issues and revision notes

Core idea

Developments in computer science and digital technologies have dramatically changed communications and information flows in societies. Computing can create valuable services and enable information to be distributed, published and communicated widely. However, the same capabilities can create risks for individuals, societies and cultures.

Four areas of concern

• Individual and moral issues: Consider how a computing system may affect a person’s privacy, autonomy, dignity, expectations and ability to make informed choices. A decision about deploying technology should consider whether people understand what is happening and whether informed consent is appropriate.
• Social and ethical issues: Consider effects on groups and society, including changes to behaviour, perceptions and relationships. A system may provide a useful service while also creating risks or unequal effects. Ethical reasoning involves identifying competing values rather than assuming that technical success is automatically social success.
• Legal issues: Legislators face challenges in the digital age because digital systems can operate at very large scale and can alter how information is monitored, collected, analysed and distributed. Legal decisions must respond to opportunities and risks created by changing technology.
• Cultural issues: People from different communities may have different expectations about privacy, public information and acceptable behaviour. A system that appears useful in one context may conflict with the expectations or values of another culture.

Power and responsibility

Computer scientists and software engineers have power through the algorithms they devise and the code they deploy. Algorithms are not necessarily value-neutral: software and algorithms embed moral and cultural values. Choices about what information is collected, what is analysed, what is published and how results are presented can therefore affect people’s lives and perceptions.

The issue of scale is especially important. Software may be used across the whole world. This can allow an individual developer or engineer to produce great good, but it also gives the ability to cause great harm. Responsibility therefore includes anticipating consequences, consulting affected people and considering safeguards before deployment.

Worked example: Street View in a remote African village

Suppose a project manager is considering introducing Street View technology to a remote African village. Relevant questions include:

1. What benefits could the service provide?
2. What risks could it create for individuals, the community and its culture?
3. Who should be consulted before deployment?
4. Do people understand the proposal, and how should informed consent be considered?
5. How might the technology change human perceptions and behaviours?
6. What safeguards could reduce harm?
7. How should the service’s value be weighed against its commercial value to Google and its shareholders?

This is not a simple choice between good and bad. The service may offer value, while individual and cultural expectations may conflict with commercial interests and the principle of informed consent.

Common errors

• Treating a useful service as automatically ethical.
• Discussing only technical operation and ignoring people, values and culture.
• Assuming that one community’s expectations apply everywhere.
• Listing benefits and risks without explaining who experiences them.
• Forgetting that algorithms and software can embed moral and cultural values.
• Ignoring scale: a decision affecting one setting may have consequences when software is deployed widely.