Addressing governance and ethics in European technology development projects through scenarios

Failures to consider the ethical aspects of technology development and design have resulted in significant negative impacts on individuals over the last decade. In consequence we have seen the emergence and growing interest in technology design movements such as “value sensitive design” and “privacy by design” aimed at specifically addressing issues of social and ethical impact. However, there is still a long way to go in raising awareness of ethical issues in technology design. This paper presents research undertaken as part of the European co-funded project “EGAIS’ which addresses precisely this issue of ethics consideration in technology development. A key component of the awareness raising initiative in technology design is the use of scenarios to prompt thinking across a range of stakeholders, and with this in mind the authors conducted a workshop at this IFIP Summer School using a scenario to stimulate discussion and promote ‘context aware’ thinking. A summary of the discussions, key points, and suggestions for further work are included here

Studying eGovernment Trust in Developing Nations: A Case of University and Colleges Admissions and Services in Egypt

eGovernment is one of the most important ICT projects in providing opportunities for citizens to engage with their communities and engage with government. Many nations have introduced eGovernment projects, which have been implemented with mixed success. This paper reports on a study concerning the impact of citizens’ trust on using eGovernment services in developing nations. In this context, trust in the technology and eGovernment are identified as essential factors to citizen uptake. The findings of the research show that Internet security and credibility of eGovernment services are significant factors that contribute to citizens’ trust towards eGovernment projects, and in consequence their use of them

Isis: protecting children in online social networks

The aim of the Isis project is to develop an ethics-centred monitoring framework and tools for supporting law enforcement agencies in policing online social networks for the purpose of protecting children. The project is developing natural language analysis techniques to help identify child sex offenders from chat logs and monitoring mechanisms that can be noninvasively attached to file sharing systems for identifying the distributors of child abuse media. The ethical issues associated with such monitoring activities are studied through consultations with representatives from stakeholder communities and fed back into the development of the framework and tools. The project results are to be used and evaluated by specialist international law enforcement agencies as part of their own policing activities

Governance in technology development

With an increasing focus on the inclusion of considering the ethical and social impact of technology developments resulting from research in the European Union, and elsewhere, comes a need for a more effective process in technology development. Current ethics governance processes do not go far enough in enabling these considerations to be embedded in European Union research projects in a way that engages participants in technology development projects. Such a lack of engagement not only creates a distance between the technology developers and ethics (and ethics experts) but also undermines the legitimacy of decisions on ethical issues and outcomes, which in turn has an impact on the resulting innovation and its role in benefiting individuals and society. This chapter discusses these issues in the context of empirical work, founded on a theoretical base, undertaken as part of the EGAIS (Ethical Governance of Emerging Technologies) EU co-funded FP7 project

Considering something ELSE: ethical, legal and socio-economic factors in medical imaging and medical informatics

The focus on the use of existing and new technologies to facilitate advances in medical imaging and medical informatics (MIMI) is often directed to the technical capabilities and possibilities that these technologies bring. The technologies, though, in acting as a mediating agent alter the dynamics and context of information delivery in subtle ways. While these changes bring benefits in more efficient information transfer and offer the potential of better healthcare, they also disrupt traditional processes and practices which have been formulated for a different setting. The governance processes that underpin core ethical principles, such as patient confidentiality and informed consent, may no longer be appropriate in a new technological context. Therefore, in addition to discussing new methodologies, techniques and applications, there is need for a discussion of ethical, legal and socio-economic (ELSE) issues surrounding the use and application of technologies in MIMI. Consideration of these issues is especially important for the area of medical informatics which after all exists to support patients, healthcare practitioners and inform science. This paper brings to light some important ethical, legal and socio-economic issues related to MIMI with the aim of furthering an interdisciplinary approach to the increasing use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in healthcare