Is government use of UbiComp ethical?
A government seeks to identify its dissidents. This government has a pre-existing cache of photos linked to names and addresses, for the national identity card system. They also have reasonably high quality images and video footage from a recent protest. The government, theoretically, could ask participants in UbiComp sites to determine gender and age-range features of the identification photographs, and then ask users to match faces with high accuracy, speed and low cost. This would, of course, help the government investigate and track down their dissenters.
Does this change your opinion on Human Ubiquitous Computing? How so? What might companies do to guard against this type of action while maintaining their full functionality? Should the participants in UbiComp platforms be required to understand the end goals of their jobs?
808lika
January 9, 2010 @ 2:17 pm
Astonished and joyful that you are asking these questions. In the back of my mind, as I watched hundreds of #iranelection YouTube vids in the last six months, has been the thought that this crowdsourcing software must exist and the fear that it would be used for such a purpose.
I will be considering these questions you ask, in the days to come (and sharing them), and will catch up with you as soon as I am able.
Just know how much your attention to this important human rights issue is appreciated!
Aloha, Lika