Morality and the Web Jeroen van den Hoven Professor Ethics and Technology Delft University of Technology Scientific Director 3TU.Ethics The Hague

The Web is an Epistemic Success Criteria for success of an epistemic practice (Goldman, Thagard, e.a.) Speed  How quick do you get an answer to your question Power  The capability of an epistemic practice to get you answers at all Economy  The cost of getting an answer Fecundity  The number of people the practice can involve and reach at one time Reliability  The ratio of true beliefs to the total number of beliefs acquired re the topic of a question

Web Connectivity Communication Interaction Coordination Transaction

ICT Information Ubiquitous Pervasive Ambient Constitutive Confusing Value laden

ICT Constitutive Technology Not merely Enabling Constitutive ICT Shapes practices, discourses, institutions

Confused Democracy Trust Privacy Property Community Person Intelligence Life Democracy Work Health Friendship

IT: more confused Electronic Democracy E- Trust Informational Privacy Intellectual Property Cyber Community Digital Person Artificial Intelligence Artificial Life Digital Democracy Tele Work E- Health Net Friendship

Conceptual Vacuum “New Sort of Community” “New Sort of Privacy” “New sort of Trust” “New sort of Friendship” Conceptual Vacuum -  Policy Vacuum & Design Vacuum

Value Laden Technology

Bias in Search Engines

Torah Compliant (kosher) Search Engine

The Formula that Killed Wallstreet David X. Li's Gaussian copula function as first published in Investors exploited it as a quick—and fatally flawed—way to assess risk. Gamma The all-powerful correlation parameter, which reduces correlation to a single constant..

Values Built into Systems Interfaces Infrastructures Algorithms Ontologies Code Protocols Integrity constraints Architectures Identity Management Systems Authorization Matrix Procedures Regulations Incentive structures Auction mechanisms Voting mechanism Monitoring and inspection Governance arrangements

Designer is a choice architect

Value Sensitive Design ETHICS AND TECHNOLOGY Values Norms Laws Ideals Code Architectures infrastructures Information Systems Ontologies Standards artifacts Express Implement Evaluate,Justify Audit Responsibility Privacy Accountability Agency Autonomy sustainability Computers Oiltankers Airplanes Reactors Roads Internet Electricity Grids Hospitals

The Web is also a bit of a Moral Success Emancipates Empowers Equalizes Enhances Accountability ………..

Some Moral Problems Cyberbullying Trolls Happy slapping Anorexia glorification Cybersuicide (pacts) Violent computer games Child Pornograph and Pedophilia

Exculpiating redescriptions Why did you do it? It was just…..no more than It was virtual…; it all seemed a bit unreal Because I could… It was private… It’s all new Everyone does it, no one told me it was wrong I don’t know I didn’t realize it caused so much grief I got further and further into it I became addicted

The Web and Moral Fog Added to the conceptual confusion common to new IT (“is this a friend?” Is this “a community”?) Moral Fog is created by the morally relevant features of the Web jointly EVIL ONLINE, Dean Cocking & Jeroen van den Hoven, Wiley Blackwell, 2011

Morally relevant features of the Web Cascades (availability, information, reputation) Daily me, informational/moral homogeneity Physical Isolation Domestication of Wrongdoing Anomimity; feeling of anonymity, hiding in the crowd Virtuality Blurred public private boundaries and blurred boundaries of social spheres; unclear jurisdiction Interpretative flexibility; problem of relevant descriptions Voluntariness of self-presentation; involuntariness in off-line emotional responses and reactive attitudes is morally significant; reliable signals of moral motivation

Moral Fog Banality of Moral Wrongdoing Wrongdoing is close, common Wrongdoers exploit ambiguity; Problem of relevant description

Situationism in Ethics Ethical behaviour to large extent dependent on situational and contextual factors Milgram Zimbardo Trolley-research

Ethics & Design We design Large Socio Technical Systems (e.g. SNS) We make moral mistakes in design; e.g. financial world, safety culture in oil industry. Ethics is in an important sense situational Moral development, education, guidance and character formation massively situated in Social Media Environments We have to (think about) design for moral development and flourishing on the Web