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    • deephdave
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      4 years ago

      Interesting read! @epenzeymoog

      Davidson rightly notes, “just because technology is being used unethically by others does not mean you should use it unethically yourself.”

      We need a standardized set of principles and regulations that every employee working on a digital product follows, just as carpenters and other trades have established standards.

      We need to continue to fight our individual battles while simultaneously coming together as teams, workplaces, and industry to say that we’ve had enough; we demand tech become an industry where ethical decisions are something we don’t just talk about, but something we do.

      • Alexa4 years ago

        yes, this one especially! I really resonated with that too

        We need to continue to fight our individual battles while simultaneously coming together as teams, workplaces, and industry to say that we’ve had enough; we demand tech become an industry where ethical decisions are something we don’t just talk about, but something we do.

        I've found a lot of my pals who design for bigger firms or companies can feel throttled by their companies. I found it myself in my corporate days, there's this tension between wanting to live according to their values and wanting to do big, great work for a company they (for the most part) appreciate and align with.

        I would love to see ethical designers get a break from the cognitive dissonance necessary to do great work for big companies, esp the bigger data-based networks (like FB or Google) where ethical decisions get sidelined by other priorities.

        • Sentien4 years ago

          And then you have to wonder, if smaller companies pick up on this push for ethical design principles, will they even be able to effect change in policy and larger companies? Or will it be like throwing a stone in a pond: a lot of ripples that don't have the momentum to become a wave? Still, I can say that as an employee of a small tech company, it's refreshing to have the ability to choose ethical design without jeopardizing our jobs.

          • Alexa4 years ago

            I wonder if this would take a cultural shift? Organic food made that shift when people started asking for it, and now Walmart is an enormous organic retailer.

            Perhaps, as people's expectations & desires shift the smaller companies can finally outcompete the larger ones who have sacrificed the agility, or willingness, to act ethically for larger returns...perhaps this is wishful thinking?

            Or will it be like throwing a stone in a pond: a lot of ripples that don't have the momentum to become a wave?

            I sure hope enough stones could start a wave

            • Sentien4 years ago

              That's certainly our goal at my company, but I think the timing has to be right as well. As you said, it's more about consumer expectations. If enough companies' efforts coincide with a paradigm shift in the expectations of consumers, large companies will shift into gear.

    • jbuchana4 years ago

      Getting to the state where one doesn't have to put one's job on the line to do the right thing is very important in every field, it's often not possible in large corporations in any field. That's wrong.

    • Alexa4 years ago

      this is the best explanation of why policymakers need to be involved in ethical tech decisions that I have read to date.

      I don't want the internet to be a bad neighborhood where you have to always watch yourself or risk data/security etc being at risk. This was a great thesis on why policymakers may need to help, way better than anything I've seen from Tristan or CHT.

      The fight for ethical tech is being fought at a more-or-less individual level, and while it certainly yields some results, asking every designer and developer to put their livelihood on the line to do what is right is unfair and ineffective.

      I’ve been faced with a decision: accept the loss and go back to work the next day to keep advocating for the right thing, or push my client further and risk my team getting fired by the client, and risk me getting fired from my company. What’s an ethical designer to do? My employer isn’t Google or Facebook; it’s overall a great, moral company where I want to keep working.