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WFEO - IFIP - SATW - SVI/SFI - SI Genève, 10-12 December 2003

WFEO - IFIP - SATW - SVI/SFI - SI Genève, 10-12 December 2003. Professional Deontology, Self-regulation and Ethics in the Information Society Jacques BERLEUR IFIP-TC9 and SIG9.2.2 Chair Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix B. – 5000 NAMUR.

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WFEO - IFIP - SATW - SVI/SFI - SI Genève, 10-12 December 2003

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  1. WFEO - IFIP - SATW - SVI/SFI - SIGenève, 10-12 December 2003 Professional Deontology, Self-regulation and Ethics in the Information Society Jacques BERLEUR IFIP-TC9 and SIG9.2.2 Chair Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix B. – 5000 NAMUR

  2. 1. Professional Ethics in Engineering and Science • Vocabulary • Professional Deontology • Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics, Guidelines, Standards,…

  3. 1. Professional Ethics in Engineering and Science b. Resources • Ethics Resources and Organizations of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); • Resources, products and services of the National Institute for Engineering Ethics (NIEE); • Cases, essays, educational resources, bibliography, list of topics,… of The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science (OECES) at CASE Western Reserve University; http://www.onlineethics.org/ • …

  4. 1. Professional Ethics in Engineering and Science C. Topics of OECSE • Confidentiality (trade secrets, database confidentiality,…) and other general ethical issues (lying, deception, negligence, accountability, corruption,…); • Diversity (general, race and culture, gender and sex); • Educational Issues / Workplace Settings Issues (conflicts of interests, safety, design, pedagogy, competency, environmental issues, financial fraud, scientific fraud, gifts and payments, professionalism, copying, quality, risks, organisational and ethical responsiveness,…); • Ethics Education (engineering, research, computer); • Famous Cases; • Legal (property, intellectual property, proprietary knowledge); • Research Conduct (general, Internet, conflict of interest, mistake, publication and credit, research subject, working relationships).

  5. 1. Professional Ethics in Engineering and Science d. Outside of the USA: The European Ethics Network More than 120 institutions throughout Europe. One recent book: Technology and Ethics. A European Quest for Responsible Engineering Leuven, Peeters, 2001: • the personal responsibility of engineers: the role of professional codes, engineers must cope with flexibility, shorter lines of decision and erosion of the boundaries between private and professional life; • the institutional level of responsibility: aspects of decision making in the context of business organisations (quality management, technology assessment procedures, business ethics committees, etc…) • the impact of technology on society and culture, and the power of technology.

  6. 1. Professional Ethics in Engineering and Science e. The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), near the European Commission (ethical aspects of science and new technologies in connection with the preparation and implementation of Community legislation or policies) 1998-2000: 5 “Opinions” • human tissue banking, • research involving the use of human embryo in the context of the 5th framework programme, • healthcare in the information society, • ethical aspects arising from doping in sport, and • ethical aspects of human stem cell research and use.

  7. 2. Professional Ethics in Computing: First Steps • Guidelines for Professional Conduct of Information Processing, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), 1966 • behaviour in relation with the public, with employers and the clients, and with other professionals: competence, honesty, loyalty, meet the requirements and specifications of the clients, honour the profession, ‘use his special knowledge for the advancement of human welfare’,… • The BCS (British Computer Society) Code of Conduct, October 1983 • the quality of the professional conduct, the professional integrity, the respect of the public interest, fidelity, technical competence, impartiality,…

  8. 2. Professional Ethics in Computing: First Steps • Another less successful story: The Committee of experts ‘Ethics of Data Processing’ of the Council of Europe (1979-1982) abandons its work on “deontology”. Preference for a multi-regulation, and a normative approach: • “The Council of Europe must take into account the spontaneous proliferation of rules of conduct as they appear in all the sectors where computers are present, and must suggest to the States Members new ways to explore, either legislative (new principles to set up), or supra-legislative (constitutional rules), or infra-legislative (recommendations or norms to be adopted by the control authorities, or directives coming from the Administration), or even infra-juridical (rules or codes set up by different organisations or associations)” [CNIL, 1982] • ‘The rules of conduct have to reach, beyond the well structured body of computer scientists, the larger circle of computer users. We must shift, he says, from a deontology for informaticians to an objective deontology of informatics under the control of the law’ [Maisl, 1994].

  9. 3. The example of Computer Scientists and Professionals Societies within IFIP Analysis of 30 IFIP Member Societies Codes Five main themes pervade them: • Respectful general attitude, • Personal/institutional qualities, • Information privacy and data integrity, • Production and flow of information, • Attitude towards regulation.

  10. IFIP Member Societies Codes • Respectful general attitude (/30) This attitude includes: respect for the interests or rights of the people involved (15), respect for the prestige of the profession (11), respect for the interests or rights of the public (10), and respect for the welfare, health of the public and for the quality of life (10).

  11. IFIP Member Societies Codes • Personal (/institutional) qualities, such as conscientiousness, honesty and positive attitude, competence and efficiency (/30) Conscientiousness and honesty: acceptance of responsibility (19) and integrity (26); respect for requirements or contracts or agreements (14) and to conscientious work (11). Competence and efficiency: professional development and training (19), or limitation of work to the field of competence (18); general competence (13) and effectiveness or work quality (12).

  12. IFIP Member Societies Codes • Promotion of information privacy and data integrity (/31) Confidentiality (22); Privacy in general (14) and respect for property rights (12). • Production and flow of information (/31) Flow of information to involved parties or people (23); information to the public (16); comprehensive information (14). • Attitude towards regulations (/30) Not a major theme: respect for the code (13), respect for the law (13), and respect for it and professional standards (12).

  13. IFIP Member Societies Codes • Comments on IFIP Codes (Worth for Online Ethics Centre topics) • Statements remain fuzzy • Not specific to the profession as such (here ICT) • Recommendations by IFIP Ethics Task Force & IFIP-GA • develop more computer-related issues, and explore the most sensitive ones, • take into account the technical developments, • meet the challenges as mentioned by experts, • anticipate threats and dangers in specialised fields, • include the suggestions of international organisations,...

  14. 4. Beyond Professional Ethics: Self-Regulation Documents • “To shift from a deontology for informaticians to an objective deontology of informatics under the control of the law.” (Herbert Maisl, 1994) • What has happened? Proliferation, outside of the professional societies, of codes, guidelines, charters… • ‘The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics’ [CEI, 1992], • ‘One planet, One Net: Principles for the Internet Era [CPSR, 1997], • The User Guidelines and Netiquette [Rinaldi, 1999], • The Wartburg Online Magna Charta [Magna Charta, 1997], • The EuroISPA Codes/Guidelines of Conduct [EuroISPA, 1997-1999], • … • IFIP-SIG9.2.2 : analysis of 40 such documents.

  15. Classification of the Inventory of Self-regulation Documents • 1. Informatics – Computing in General • 1.1. General Principles • 1.2. Specific Principles • 1.2.1. For Professional Societies • 2. The Internet • 2.1. General Principles • 2.2. Specific Principles • 2.2.1 For Virtual Communities • 2.2.2 For Different Actors • 2.2.3 For (Associations of) Service Providers (ISPs) • 2.2.4 For other Service Providers • 2.2.5 For Governmental Services and Actors • 2.2.6 For the Industry in General • 2.2.7 For Specific Sectors and Services • 2.2.7.1 Health Sector • 2.2.7.2 Publishing Sector • 2.2.7.3 eCommerce Sector • 2.2.7.4 Software publishers Sector • 2.2.7.5 Telemarketing Sector

  16. Issues in Main Self-Regulation Documents Internet Service Providers • Concern about ‘illegal material’ (child pornography, racism propaganda,…), youth protection; commitment to cooperate with hotlines…; • Data protection, confidentiality and e-mail secrecy; • Need for decency: no violence, no hatred, no cruelty, no incitement to commit crimes; • Fair trading, acting decently with the customers, giving them clear information, including about pricing, etc.

  17. Issues in Main Self-Regulation Documents • Sectoral codes: more and more contractual clauses; stress on practices in accordance with professional standards • Health: candour and trustworthiness, quality of information, products, services, the best commercial practices (our emphasis), the highest standards by Health Care Professionals [IHCC, 2000]. • The Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (GBDe) Tokyo 2001 & Brussels 2002 recommendations are about consumer confidence, convergence, cybersecurity, digital bridges, eGovernment, intellectual property rights, Internet payments, taxation, and Trade/WTO. GBDe has also a Cyber Ethics Statement.

  18. Comments on Self-Regulation Documents • Their content: issues covered, and not? The most acute ones? Why? Lists of issues: PFIR, ISOC, IFIP,…

  19. Privacy Filtering/Rating/Content Control/Censorship Social Issues Legislative and Legal Issues Anonymity vs. Responsibility Internet Voting Politics Misc. Internet Infrastructure Costs Advanced Technologies Security Technology And Policies Crime/Hacking/Cracking/Viruses/Worms Spam, UBE, UCE Domain Name Policies Intellectual Property Issues Advertising PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility ISSUESVersion of July 4, 2001This list represents only one possible ordering and categorization of these topics.Overlap will occur between some categories and subcategories

  20. ISOC - Internet Society Member NewsletterISOC Member Newsletter, Volume 2, Number 4 - April 2003

  21. ISOC - Internet Society Member Newsletter ISOC Member Newsletter, Volume 2, Number 4 - April 2003 “For instance, policy makers are increasingly concerned about a long list of issues, including: • Cyber-fraud • The Digital Divide • On-line privacy • IT security Intellectual property rights in cyberspace • Competition policy in the Internet, telecom, and IT sectors • Spam and on-line pornography • Spectrum policy for wireless Internet services (802.11, etc.) In each of these areas, the Internet Society could do a great deal to help policy makers understand relevant technologies and standards.”

  22. IFIP-TC9, Vilnius Declaration, August 27-29, 2003 Among the social and ethical concerns we strongly suggest a focus on: • professional ethics; • access to content and technology for all; • education, literacy and public awareness; • multilingualism, cultural concerns; • influence of globalisation; • regulation, self-regulation, governance and democratic participation; intellectual property rights; • specific digital policies such as eHealth, eWork, eGovernment, etc;

  23. IFIP-TC9, Vilnius Declaration, August 27-29, 2003 • privacy; • protection of human and civil rights; • protection of the individual against surveillance; • development of the quality of life and well-being; • combating social exclusion; • computer crime, cyber-attacks and security; • employment and participative design at work; • risk and vulnerabilities.”

  24. IFIP-TC9, Vilnius Declaration, August 27-29, 2003 WITFOR Commission on Social and Ethical Aspects of the Information Society recommends establishing national or regional social and ethical committees to assess these issues and develop social and ethical benchmarks, to ensure that the balance between technical and social aspects is maintained.

  25. Comments on Self-Regulation Documents • Their content: issues covered, and not? The most acute ones? Why? Lists of issues: PFIR, ISOC, IFIP, WITFOR… • Their development: too short statements - minimal if not minimalists; what commitment of the parties?

  26. Comments on Self-Regulation Documents • Their legitimacy: Who is enacting, and how? Who are the authors, and how are the people concerned by the rules consulted? Is it during the process any participation of users, consumers, ‘usees’ (affected people)? What is the transparency of the elaboration procedures? How do the norms conform with the content of norms of higher rank? Where are the norms received, and by whom? • Their efficiency: enforcement, complaint procedures, dispute resolution, sanctions,…

  27. Comments on Self-Regulation Documents • Abruptly said: The slogans of self-regulation, ‘The least State possible is the best’, ‘Let us avoid a greater degree of statutory regulation’, or ‘Let business self-regulate the Net’ belong to the “knee-jerk antigovernment rhetoric of our past”, and cannot persist without damage for a democratic society [Lessig, 1999]. They are societal lies.

  28. 5. Conclusion: … and Ethics? Difference between professional deontology and self-regulation: ethics can find its place - more easily - in the first because the « boundaries » of the profession are better delineated, and then members participation and public democracy are possible. Sectoral self-regulation: same situation as the profession? Difficult to argue, since the clauses are nearly purely contractual. Our deep conviction after having read and analysed those documents is that it is more self-protecting than self-regulating, which is the opposite of giving the public the capacity of knowing and evaluating our behaviour in society.

  29. 5. Conclusion: … and Ethics? We should: • Request more professionalism from professional bodies, i.e. clearer statements on issues in specialised fields where they develop their competence; • Anticipate threats and dangers; • Increase international exchange between professional societies and institutional groups, respecting the cultural, social, and legal differences; • Reflect on the “shift from deontology for informaticians to a deontology of informatics under the control of the law”;

  30. 5. Conclusion: … and Ethics? • Question self-regulation in terms of improvement of commitment and responsibility of organisations. Is it not too minimalist? • Increase self-regulation legitimacy by promoting large participation of all the concerned parties; • Refrain from slogans of the past, such as “Let business self-regulate the Net” which are at risk of damaging societal fabric, and which are not favouring the cooperation between private and public; • Clarify the relationship between deontology, self-regulation, the law, and ethics.

  31. 5. Conclusion: … and Ethics? What Information Society needs is ‘early warning’, anticipating the different dimensions – including ethics – of social life. Information Society is not a technological concept, but first a social choice: it must have its norms, supported especially by ethical values.

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