The Problem
Technology has run amok. It’s affecting everyone, even when trying to conduct the simplest of tasks, like crossing the street:
I was about to step into the crosswalk on a busy street. I tried to make eye contact with the driver of the approaching car. There was no one behind the wheel. I froze.
Or needing customer service: I was dealing with a problematic software product’s uninformative error message. I go to the vendor’s support page on their website. A pop-up says chat support is available. After the first chat response, it’s obvious I won’t get any support. I’m not sure, but it appears I’m chatting with a bot, who is worse at deciphering the vendor’s error message than I am.
Or living in a safe society: Law enforcement, social media companies, advertisers, and other government agencies and corporations track a significant amount of our lives. Facial recognition software is just one example of digital technology used to track people. Without the victim’s knowledge, law enforcement uses defective facial recognition software to wrongfully identify and falsely accuse innocent people of color. Victimized, people of color spend time in detention, lose their jobs, and suffer countless other personal and public indignities because of this technology’s misuse.
This is not about stopping technological advancement. That tidal wave hit already and more are on the horizon. This is about whether we should regulate digital technology that is unquestionably transforming our world. Advanced digital technology is coming to a neighborhood near you whether you know it or not. And that’s the problem. Should you know? More importantly, who’s in charge of it? Who decides who uses it? Who is responsible for how they use it?
The Solution
This is about regulation. Using technology causes change. Should we leave it to technology companies to self-regulate or should government regulate these companies?
The University College London recently completed a study of citizens’ attitudes about self-driving vehicles. They found that 87% of respondents believed autonomous cars should display a label indicating it’s a self-driving vehicle. Interestingly, only 44% of experts noted a vehicle should display it’s autonomous.
Technology experts, like software and hardware engineers, develop digital technology to create value. This is why customers, like law enforcement agencies, use facial recognition technology. Customers also include the people effected by the technology, not just those who use it. For example, facial recognition software effects the general public thanks to its assumed crime fighting benefits and also due to its wrongful arrests.
Most importantly, it’s always about the customer. That means the customer inevitably gets to decide who regulates digital technology and what those regulations do.
Silence is complicity, so doing nothing kindles the damage and limits the benefits found in digital technology. So, what must customers do?
Government creates regulations, balancing the costs and benefits of digital technology, but its rule-making doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Technology companies lobby regulatory officials in legislatures and executive agencies. Ultimately, it’s up to an informed electorate, who votes for and selects officials that regulate technology responsibly to safeguard all of us. Are you happy about the current level of effective digital technology regulation? If not, then it’s up to you to determine who’s in charge.
Source
Stilgoe, Jack, “It will soon be easy for self-driving cars to hide in plain sight. We shouldn’t let them.” MIT Technology Review, May 14, 2022.
