Some guidelines for the ethical development of ubiquitous computing

Abstract

At a time when both the landscape of everyday life and the choices available to us there are increasingly conditioned by ubiquitous information processing systems, it seems wise to articulate some general principles guiding their ethical design and deployment. I here enunciate five broad guidelines for the designers of such systems, including recommendations that they be devised in such a way as to default to harmlessness , be conservative of time , be conservative of face , be self-disclosing and be deniable . I conclude with some observations about the likelihood of any such principles winning usefully widespread voluntary adherence.

Designing the Health-related Internet of Things: Ethical Principles and Guidelines

“…This should not be achieved paternalistically; perceptions of obtrusiveness will vary between users, meaning design choice is essential to allow users to choose devices fitting their needs and values. Devices can, for instance, include "plausible deniability" features that allow imprecise or false secondary data (e.g., location) to be entered by the user [74]. However, a balance must be struck; the inclusion of such a feature on devices designed for cognitively impaired users will pose a significant risk to patient safety.…”

“…H-IoT embedded in a home or institutional care environment can be forgotten following extended use [112,113]. Devices should thus be "self-disclosive," meaning their existence, intended uses, and capabilities should be proactively and periodically disclosed to users and unintentionally monitored third parties [74].…”

“…At best, cooperation between developers can create privacy enhancing tools that enable users to move freely between and interact with a range of H-IoT systems. These interactions would reflect the value-laden choices of users, without negotiating individual privacy agreements with each device or service provider [73][74][75].…”

Ethics of the health-related internet of things: a narrative review

“…Devices can, for instance, include 'plausible deniability' features that allow imprecise or false secondary data (e.g. location) to be entered by the user (Greenfield 2008;Bagüés et al 2007a). A balance sensitive to the needs of specific user groups should nonetheless be struck; the inclusion of such a feature on devices designed for cognitively impaired users could, for example, pose a significant safety risk.…”

Introduction

“…Next, Prof. Marsden (Marsden et al 2008) gave a fascinating insight into the role that mobile phones can play in the developing world, and how this has, in turn, influenced the interaction design methodology; and Prof. Darzi (Aziz et al 2008) presented his vision of pervasive health care technology, describing medical applications of wireless body sensor networks and the trend towards personalized health care, to be achieved by 2010. The last two lectures concerned legal and ethical implications of ubiquitous computing: Prof. Zittrain (Zittrain 2008) pinpointed the dangers of unregulated 'human ubiquitous computing' that combines the power of the Internet and humans to perform tasks; and in the final lecture Adam Greenfield (Greenfield 2008) enunciated five principles of ethical development of ubiquitous computing.…”