This is a question that is getting a lot of attention right now. A lot of people say that Technologists shouldn’t be political or worry about how their tech being used but I believe that it is wrong. This school of thought comes from when historically people working on computers were not impacting any real-world events/consequences. E.g. if a computer crashed or was hacked it might not have a life & death impact. Now with everything connected to each other including devices that effect the physical world that is not the case. So if there is a major flaw in a control system of a car that allows it to be hacked then it can be used to crash a car or stop it in the middle of the road causing a pileup. If there is a vulnerability found in a pace maker then it can be used to kill people.
Due to this all our work needs to take in account all three scenarios. We can’t just create a system that causes extensive harm and claim that it was done because “This is what I was told to do” is not a valid justification for doing something that is used to harm people/communities. Some claim that our job is to help our companies & clients make money and leave the ethics at home but it is not the correct way to look at things.
To take an example, what if I develop hacks that allowed governments to spy on terrorists undetected by monitoring their phones & computers? That seems like a win-win for all correct?I am helping stop terrorists and keeping the world safe. What else do we need? Now what if those same hacks were repurposed by repressive regimes to spy on their dissidents? It shows that everything we do and work on, has consequences some of which are intended & some are not.
In another example, if I figure out a way to remotely identify anyone even when they are masked, then before I release the software I also need to think of how else the software might be used. Will it be used to target protestors or political dissidents? We need to figure out what other uses it might have and then take a call.
Unfortunately there is no clear answer or a checklist that we can follow to make the correct decision. End of the day we need to make a decision and then live with the consequences.
– Suramya