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The calling of a technologist

This comment piece was originally published on Zone’s website in 2018 shortly after the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal was revealed. Hopefully you’ll agree its call for responsible technology thinking remains timely. 

As someone who’s spent their career helping companies figure out how to leverage technology, I am completely unsurprised by the latest revelations from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. 

Take the political context and the data breach out of the equation for a moment, and all we’re really talking about is a slightly extreme version of the Facebook marketing that modern brands and publishers around the world now employ as standard.

This is a part of the internet that is functioning exactly as designed. 

It is a spinning flywheel pushed on ever faster, as platforms use technology to create extraordinary new conveniences (which we all want) in exchange for personal data that can be used for targeted advertising at scale. 

Of course I’m willing to tell Google Maps where I am at all times - how else would it know how to give me the quickest directions home?  Of course I’m willing to let Amazon put a microphone in my bedroom - how else will I tell it to play music and set my alarm?  Of course Apple needs to know the exact contours of my face - how else will it open my phone so quickly? 

Of course I’m willing to tell Facebook how I’m going to vote… ah. 

We’re now seeing the consequences of this flywheel spinning faster than any group of people can handle. 

Distributed trust

Over the past 20 years, according to global surveys like Edelman’s Trust Barometer, the public’s trust in traditional institutions - banks, governments, big brands, even charities - has fallen off a cliff. Instead, we put our trust in the power of technology. We let algorithms, anonymously aggregated reviews, bots and artificial intelligences make our decisions. 

Trust expert and researcher Rachel Botsman calls this “distributed trust.” And as of late last year, the technology companies who enable it were rated as the most trusted industry sector in the world. But what happens when they turn out to be as slippery and prone to human failings as the other big institutions we have come to doubt?  

In the same week as the Facebook revelations, one of Uber’s driverless, autonomous cars struck and killed a woman crossing the street. Our power to design and roll out new technology will always be faster than our ability to think about and manage the consequences. 

Responsible technology

So yes, we absolutely need more regulation. GDPR has some teeth, and so does the UK’s Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham. Perhaps we need a Digital Protection Agency with broader powers. 

But we also need to find ways to encourage the teams of people who are making and exploiting new technologies – the designers, programmers and strategists – to create things more responsibly. Agencies and their clients must do the same. Signing up publicly to manifestos and oaths like this one for good data practices, would be a worthwhile start. 

As technology activist Anil Dash says: “Choices that software developers make about design, technical architecture or business model can have profound impacts on our privacy, security and even civil rights as users.” He also notes that almost no technology education includes ethical training. 

For some reason, the digital realm doesn’t seem to carry the same burden of responsibility as the physical, even as the delineation between the two continue to dissolve. Designing a new bridge to carry millions over the sea sounds terrifying to me. But designing a new app that makes it easier to get home in a stranger’s car? That’s a breeze.

There’s an old ceremony for graduating engineers in Canada called “The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer”. It’s a bit like the Hippocratic oath. You wear an iron ring on your little finger as a constant reminder of your ethical responsibilities while you’re working with your hands. And as Botsman puts it: “The only way to gain trust is to be trustworthy.” 

So I invite you to think about the Calling of a Technologist. The decisions and inventions we make today will have long-lasting consequences for society and culture. What are the most responsible things we can create?

[borrodell]

Speed to create and test is a competitive asset, because even an average chess player will beat a grandmaster if they make 2 moves for every 1 their opponent makes.

Facebook Advertising Decoded in 15 Minutes

[borrodell]

by getting consensus and sustained focus on specific and measurable events up and down the so-called ‘pirate funnel’ (“AAARRR” = Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) you will already be ahead of most competitors, and can sharpen your campaigns around outcomes and signal collection.

Facebook Advertising Decoded in 15 Minutes