Transcript Information Ethics: A View from the Trenches

Information Ethics
A View from the Trenches
Philosophy Club – Kutztown University
March 1, 2012
Oskars J. Rieksts
Go Ogle – A Parable
The Saga
of
Ed Dougward
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
The Saga of Ed Dougward
• Ed was in a pique that morning
on his way to work having just
confronted and canned his
trusty butler.
• He had never been in favor of
hiring a butler in the first place,
but at his wife’s insistence he
had relented.
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
The Saga of Ed Dougward
• “Ed, what else are you going
to do with all that money?” his
wife had insisted. “And all our
neighbors have butlers!”
• Ever since the Silicon Valley
startup had taken off dollars
flowed like a Pennsylvania
creek following a rainstorm.
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• As vice president he had
certain “entertainment
obligations” which fell on his
wife, Patty. And so began
their storybook life – Ed and
Candy and Scooby Doo in
Palo Alto, CA.
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• And then along came Jake
and Mandy and vacations in
Big Sur and skiing at Big Bear.
• Until they began to get calls
from telemarketers – touting
exotic homeopathic remedies
and New Age spiritual retreats.
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• “Ed, do you think someone
knows Jake is HIV-positive
and Mandy has mood swings
following her abortions?” Patty
finally asked. “How could
they? We’ve never even told
our best friends. And besides,
that is protected information.”
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• These conversations went on
for weeks, until one day Patty
blurted out, “The butler! He is
privy to all our family secrets.”
• “Edwards?!” Ed exclaimed.
“Never! He is always so
reliable and helpful and ‘British
proper.’”
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• “I can’t believe he would be
anything but discreet. He
knows what great pains we
take to keep our private
information private.”
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• But Patty was like a dog with a
bone. Once the idea found
root in her mind she was not to
be dissuaded. And at every
opportunity she brought up the
subject.
• Until finally Ed confronted him.
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• Edwards was horrified that
they would consider such a
thing. And bringing himself up
to the most proper aristocratic
bearing he soon had Ed
ashamed for even thinking it.
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• But Patty, in her uncanny way,
espied the telling micro hints
and went after him with guns
blazing. Until finally he broke
down and confessed. He’d
been in debt and the offers to
sell information had been so
lucrative.
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• And, besides, who would be
hurt?
• Ed felt sorry for him and was
about to forgive. But Patty
was like a mama bear
protecting her cubs. And soon
Edwards was history!
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
The Saga of Ed Dougward
• And so, as he pulled into the
parking lot at work, as he saw
the blinking sign he was struck
by the irony of the timing.
• The 1st letter “o” was flickering
on and off, so the sign seemed
to be saying, “Go ogle” over
and over again.
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
The Saga of Ed Dougward
• Yes, “go ogle” indeed. He felt
violated by his butler, by his
betrayal of the trust they had
put in him. How many now
knew his family secrets? And
who were they? And where
would the information wind
up?
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
The Saga of Ed Dougward
• Later that evening, he was
confronted by the irony again,
reading his favorite snarky
blogger.
• The posting was about the
blinking sign. After various
musings and ramblings . .
March 1, 2012
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• . . the blogger pointed out that,
according to the Merriam
nd
Webster dictionary, the 2
definition of ogle is:
• “to look at especially with
greedy or interested
attention.”
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The Saga of Ed Dougward
• How appropriate, Ed thought.
All this time, though they had
trusted him implicitly, their
butler had been ogling his
family for personal gain!
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
Ethics
• The field of ethics (or moral
philosophy) involves
systematizing, defending, and
recommending concepts of
right and wrong behavior.
James Fieser, UT @ Martin
Internet Enc. of Philosophy
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Ethics {Fieser}
• Metaethics
investigates where our ethical
principles come from, and what
they mean.
• Normative ethics
arrive at moral standards that
regulate right and wrong
conduct.
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Ethics {Fieser}
• Applied ethics
involves examining specific
controversial issues, such as
abortion, infanticide, animal
rights, environmental concerns,
homosexuality, capital
punishment, or nuclear war.
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• Computer and Information Ethics
Terrell Bynum, S. Connecticut State
University
Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
• ICT
Information and communication
technology
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C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• “Computer and information
ethics”, in the broadest sense
of this phrase, can be
understood as that branch of
applied ethics which studies
and analyzes such social and
ethical impacts of ICT.
March 1, 2012
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C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• Founder
• Norbert Weiner
Cybernetics
The Human Use of Human
Beings
God and Golem
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Weiner
• Great principles of justice
• The Principle of Freedom
Liberty of each human being to
develop in his freedom the full
measure of the human
possibilities embodied in him.
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Weiner
• The Principle of Equality
The equality by which what is
just for A and B remains just
when the positions of A and B
are interchanged.
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Weiner
• The Principle of Benevolence
a good will between man and
man that knows no limits short
of those of humanity itself.
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Weiner
• The Principle of Minimum
Infringement of Freedom
What compulsion the very
existence of the community and
the state may demand must be
exercised in such a way as to
produce no unnecessary
infringement of freedom
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• Walter Maner @ ODU
Medical ethics course
addition of computers generated
wholly new ethics problems
concluded that there should be
a new branch of applied ethics
“computer ethics”
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• Deborah Johnson
@ Rensselaer
Book – Computer Ethics
new versions of standard moral
problems and dilemmas
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Johnson
• computers pose new versions of
standard moral problems and
moral dilemmas, exacerbating the
old problems, and forcing us to
apply ordinary moral norms in
uncharted realms.
• old ethical problems “given a new
twist” by computer technology.
March 1, 2012
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C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• James Moor
why computing technology
raises so many ethical questions
compared to other kinds of
technology.
revolutionary power of computer
technology was that computers
are “logically malleable”
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Moor
Logically malleable
Can be shaped and molded to
do any activity that can be
characterized in terms . .
connecting logical operations
Logic applies everywhere
Potential applications of
computer technology limitless
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Moor
Possible for people to do a vast
number of things that they were
not able to do before.
Since no one could do them
before, the question never arose
as to whether one ought to do
them.
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Moor
• No laws or standards of good
practice or specific ethical rules
were established to govern them.
• policy vacuums
• conceptual muddles
• conceptual vacuum.
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Enter Google
• The success of Google, to a great
extent, was their ability to do
things no one had done before.
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Scott Cleland
• Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t
Trust Google Inc.
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Moor
• Although a problem in computer
ethics may seem clear initially, a
little reflection reveals a
conceptual muddle. What is
needed in such cases is an
analysis that provides a coherent
conceptual framework within
which to formulate a policy for
action.
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Moor
• (1) Identify a policy vacuum
generated by computing
technology.
• (2) Eliminate any conceptual
muddles.
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Moor
• (3) Use the core values and the
ethical resources of just
consequentialism to revise
existing – but inadequate –
policies, or else to create new
policies that justly eliminate the
vacuum and resolve the original
ethical issue.
March 1, 2012
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Moor
• If the blindfold of justice is applied
to computing policies, some
regarded as
unjust by all rational, impartial
people
just by all rational, impartial people,
some will be in dispute.
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
Moor
• We first require that all
computing policies pass the
impartiality test.
• Clearly, our computing policies
should not be among those
that every rational, impartial
person would regard as unjust.
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
C & I Ethics {Bynum}
Donald Gotterbarn
computer ethics should be seen
as a professional ethics devoted
to the development and
advancement of standards of
good practice and codes of
conduct for computing
professionals.
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Gotterbarn
• Professional ethics
values that guide the day-to-day
activities of computing
professionals.
anyone involved in the design
and development of computer
artifacts.
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Gotterbarn
• The ethical decisions made
during the development of
these artifacts have a direct
relationship to many of the
issues discussed under the
broader concept of computer
ethics.
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
C & I Ethics {Bynum}
• Luciano Floridi
Information ethics
treats everything that exists as
“informational” objects or
processes”
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Information Ethics
• Yes – need broader than
computer
Communication
• Need consider
Information in all its forms
What is & what is not an ethical
use of information
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Information Ethics
• Already have bits & pieces
• Concepts of
Protected information
Privileged communication
Sealed records
Disposal of records
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Information Ethics
• MIA
• Over-arching principles
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The Schmidt Dichotomy
• What happens when you have
Conceptual vacuums
Conceptual muddles
A policy vacuum
March 1, 2012
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The Schmidt Dichotomy
Abu Dubai – 3/11/10
Q: All this information that you
have about us: where does it
go? Who has access to that?
A: Google servers and Google
employees, under careful rules
Q: Does that scare everyone in
this room? {applause}
March 1, 2012
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The Schmidt Dichotomy
Abu Dubai – 3/11/10
A: Would you prefer someone
else? {laughter; even greater
applause}
A: Is there a government that
you would prefer to be in charge
of this?”
 http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/11/top-five-moments-fromeric-schmidts-talk-in-abu-dhabi/
March 1, 2012
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The Schmidt Dichotomy
• Classic disjunctive syllogism
p  q
 p
 q
• Or classic false dichotomy?
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
Targeted
• Father’s angry interchange
with Target
“My daughter got this in the
mail!” he said. “She’s still in high
school, and you’re sending her
coupons for baby clothes and
cribs? Are you trying to
encourage her to get pregnant?”
March 1, 2012
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Targeted
Target manager calls to
apologize
Father: I had a talk with my
daughter. She is due in August.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shoppinghabits.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp
 http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/818/howtarget-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/
March 1, 2012
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Privacy
• Lawrence Snyder’s definition
• The right of people to choose
freely under what
circumstances and to what
extent they will reveal
themselves to others.
March 1, 2012
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Snyder’s Definition
• Right
• Choose
Freely
Circumstances
Extent
• Reveal
Self
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FIP Principles
• Fair Information Practices
• 1980 – OECD
• Adopted by EU
• US – hodgepodge of various
laws
March 1, 2012
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FIP Principles
• Limited Collection Principle
Limits
Fair & lawful means
• Quality Principle
Relevant
Accurate & complete
Up to date
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FIP Principles
• Purpose Principle
Purpose stated
Use limited to purpose
• Use Limitation Principle
Not disclosed
No other purpose
March 1, 2012
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FIP Principles
• Security Principle
reasonable security measures
by data controller
• Openness Principle
Public knowledge of
existence
kind & purpose
identify of data controller
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University
FIP Principles
• Participation Principle
Individual
Knows
Whether information
What information
Can challenge
Denial of access
Information itself
March 1, 2012
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FIP Principles
• Accountability Principle
data controller to be
accountable for complying with
FIP Principles
March 1, 2012
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Google vs. EU
• http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9d2fecda-6230-11e1872e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1njZ4p0Tu
• http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.dc
a855da9e6c393c07dda475a1590504.961&show
_article=1
March 1, 2012
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Philosophy of Information
• New & uncharted territory
Claude Shannon
Not for public consumption
March 1, 2012
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What Is Information
• Seat of the pants definition:
• That of which one can say “I
know”
March 1, 2012
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What Is Information
• Information
• Disinformation
• Misinformation
March 1, 2012
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Value of Information
• Corporate secrets
• Sale of information
Sale of personal information
• Ownership
Personal information
Intellectual property
March 1, 2012
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Ethical Dilemmas
• When is it wrong?
To disclose
To not disclose
• Examples
Warning of disasters
E.g., tsunami
Unabomber’s brother
March 1, 2012
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Ownership & Sale
• Pilfering
When cents rounded off – place
lost value into own account
• When bits & pieces are
collected
Who owns?
Compensation?
March 1, 2012
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Information Life Cycle
• Creation
• Maintenance
Protection
Integrity
• Dissolution
• Disposal
March 1, 2012
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The Policy Vacuum
•What is and what is
not an ethical use of
information?
March 1, 2012
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END
March 1, 2012
Kutztown University