The Ethics of Privacy in the Digital Society Ethical issues of emerging information and communication technologies Professor Bernd Carsten Stahl

Privacy and Ethics “Protecting the privacy of personal information continues to pose significant challenges for organizations. Because consumers are vulnerable in their dealings with businesses due to a lack of information about and an inability to control the subsequent use of their personal information, we argue that organizations have a moral responsibility to these individuals to avoid causing harm and to take reasonable precautions toward that end.” Culnan, Mary, and Cynthia Williams “How Ethics Can Enhance Organizational Privacy: Lessons from the ChoicePoint and TJX Data Breaches.” Management Information Systems Quarterly 33(4):

What is Ethics? Good / bad, right / wrong Different levels of abstraction Moral intuition Shared behavioural norms Reflection of moral norms / rules / values Justification of morality Abstract moral philosophy Confusion of these levels leads to problematic arguments

Problems of Research on Ethics Descriptive / normative Relativism / universalism Temporal instability Application of ethical theories Utility – consequences – outcomes Duty – rationality – consistency Virtue – character These lead to different conclusions Acceptance v acceptability – naturalist fallacy

Why is privacy an ethical value? Privacy as an intrinsic value Lack of respect for others (human dignity) Privacy as a human right (Article 8 ECHR) Privacy as an instrumental value Psychological necessity Social trust Condition of democracy Organisational peace (employment relationship) Answer determines limits of privacy protection

Examples of Technologies Taken from the ETICA project: “Ethical Issues of Emerging ICT Applications” (FP7 GA ) Basic ideas: Analyse discourses on emerging technologies Political and scientific discourses Distinguish artefact, application, technology High levell socio-technical systems Change the way we interact with the world

Affective Computing Ambient Intelligence Artificial Intelligence Bioelectronics Cloud Computing Future Internet Technologies identified by ETICA Human-machine symbiosis Neuroelectronics Quantum Computing Robotics Synthetic Biology Virtual / Augmented Reality

/2004/BHATTI/index.htm Ambient Intelligence Ethical issues: Informed Consent Autonomy, Freedom & Agency Equity Liability Deception... Privacy, Surveillance and Data Protection

Affective Computing Ethical issues: Conceptual Muddle & trust Measurement and interpretation errors Persuasion and coercion Anthropomorphism Cultural differences... Privacy Emotion data Mind reading

Ethics and Privacy: Summary Open questions in need of discussion: What is privacy, what are its limits? What is ethics, which life do we want to live? Privacy is a core issue of most / all emerging ICTs Privacy concerns are intrinsically linked to other ethical issues Privacy and other ethical issues need to be addressed if we want technology to achieve its potential benefits. But how?

Solutions? Your View What is the best way to embed ethical considerations into technology? 1.State: i.e. legislation 2.Institutions: e.g. technology assessment e.g. POST, ICO 3.Processes: e.g. Privacy Impact Assessment 4.Individual: e.g. professional responsibilities 5.Procedures: e.g. alue-sensitive design 6.Society: e.g. user / citizen engagement 7.Others...