[PEC] Accountability in Computing

Accountability in Computing

Content

  • Importance of Accountability
    • To define accountability and explain its importance for morality, ethics and professionalism
  • Barriers for and maintenance of accountability
    • To explain some of the perceived barriers for accountability in software development
    • To reflect and take a stance about maintaining accountability in software development
  • Moral Responsibility in Computing
    • To explain proposed criteria and rules for moral responsibility in computing
    • To reflect on the perceptions(by other disciplines)of moral responsibility in computing

What is accountability?

Accountability is answerability, i.e., a state of being compelled to or called to account for one’s action.
A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct.

Why is accountability important?

Issue: We have improved standards of reliability for computer systems but neglected accountability for the impact of computing, specifically for the harms and risk of fault and malfunctioning systems.

  • Accountability is needed
    • Even if things go drastically wrong for the users at least they are assured of answerability
    • For developing a sense of responsibility, as a virtue
    • For motivating better practices and reliable and trustworthy systems
  • In terms of social welfare, a culture of accountability
    • Motivates actions to prevent or minimize harms and risks
    • Provides a reasonable starting point for assigning punishment and compensation for victims of harm through failure.

Accountability vs. Liability vs. Responsibility

Accountability

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Liabiltiy

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Strict Liability

To be strictly liable for a harm is to be liable to compensate for it even though one did not cause it through a faulty action.

Responsibility

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Three conditions:

  1. There should be a causal connection between the person and the outcome of actions
  2. Subject has to have knowledge of and be able to consider the possible consequences of her actions
  3. The subject has to be able to freely choose to act in a certain way.

Computer practices and moral responsibility

Computing practitioners(从业者) have a tendency to side-step(逃避) or avoid responsibility by looking for someone else to blame.
Two pervasive misconceptions about responsibility:

  • Computing is an ethically neutral practice
    • Narrow, technology-centered focus on the development of computing systems
    • Not taking the broader context of technology use -> Detrimental consequences!!
  • Responsibility is only about determining blame when something goes wrong
    • Adopted a malpractice model of responsibility that focuses on determining the appropriate person to blame for harmful incidents -> avoids responsibility
    • The distance between developers and the effects of the use of the technologies is used to claim no direct and diminished causal link to a malfunction

Positive responsibility

Positive responsibility emphasizes the virtue of having (or being obliged to have) regard for the consequences that actions have on others.

  • Strive to minimize foreseeable undesirable events
  • Focus on what ought to be done rather than on blaming or punishing others for irresponsible behaviour
  • Computer practitioners have a moral responsibility to avoid harm and to deliver a properly working product, regardless of whether they will be held accountable if things turn out differently.

Factors that influence adoption(采纳) of accountability

Four barriers:

  • Many hands: Computing systems are built by teams, complex, multi-layered, and dependent on other systems. Thus, in tracking the faults it is difficult to assign responsibility.
  • Bugs: The view that bugs are inevitable implies that, while harms and inconvenience are regrettable(可惜的), they cannot be helped, and it would be unreasonable to keep programmers responsible.
  • Computer as Scapegoat(替罪羊): People point at the complexity of the computer to argue it was the computers fault when things go wrong
  • Ownership without liability: Commercial companies protect computing innovation and take advantage of exclusive use without taking responsibility to protect from harm.

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