“I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security

The paper suggests an amendment to Principle 4 of ethical robot design, and a demand for “transparency by design”. It argues that while misleading vulnerable users as to the nature of a robot is a serious ethical issue, other forms of intentionally deceptive or unintentionally misleading aspects of...

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Main Authors: Burkhard Schafer, Lilian Edwards
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-07-01
Series:Connection Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2017.1318356
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author Burkhard Schafer
Lilian Edwards
author_facet Burkhard Schafer
Lilian Edwards
author_sort Burkhard Schafer
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description The paper suggests an amendment to Principle 4 of ethical robot design, and a demand for “transparency by design”. It argues that while misleading vulnerable users as to the nature of a robot is a serious ethical issue, other forms of intentionally deceptive or unintentionally misleading aspects of robotic design pose challenges that are on the one hand more universal and harmful in their application, on the other more difficult to address consistently through design choices. The focus will be on transparent design regarding the sensory capacities of robots. Intuitive, low-tech but highly efficient privacy preserving behaviour is regularly dependent on an accurate understanding of surveillance risks. Design choices that hide, camouflage or misrepresent these capacities can undermine these strategies. However, formulating an ethical principle of “sensor transparency” is not straightforward, as openness can also lead to greater vulnerability and with that security risks. We argue that the discussion on sensor transparency needs to be embedded in a broader discussion of “fair data handling principles” for robots that involve issues of privacy, but also intellectual property rights such as copyright.
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spelling doaj-art-65d22524fcbd44d79dd3347829cc93e52025-08-20T03:34:16ZengTaylor & Francis GroupConnection Science0954-00911360-04942017-07-0129320020910.1080/09540091.2017.13183561318356“I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and securityBurkhard Schafer0Lilian Edwards1The University of Edinburgh; Old CollegeStrathclyde UniversityThe paper suggests an amendment to Principle 4 of ethical robot design, and a demand for “transparency by design”. It argues that while misleading vulnerable users as to the nature of a robot is a serious ethical issue, other forms of intentionally deceptive or unintentionally misleading aspects of robotic design pose challenges that are on the one hand more universal and harmful in their application, on the other more difficult to address consistently through design choices. The focus will be on transparent design regarding the sensory capacities of robots. Intuitive, low-tech but highly efficient privacy preserving behaviour is regularly dependent on an accurate understanding of surveillance risks. Design choices that hide, camouflage or misrepresent these capacities can undermine these strategies. However, formulating an ethical principle of “sensor transparency” is not straightforward, as openness can also lead to greater vulnerability and with that security risks. We argue that the discussion on sensor transparency needs to be embedded in a broader discussion of “fair data handling principles” for robots that involve issues of privacy, but also intellectual property rights such as copyright.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2017.1318356design ethicsrobot ethicsprivacycopyrightprinciples of robotics
spellingShingle Burkhard Schafer
Lilian Edwards
“I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security
Connection Science
design ethics
robot ethics
privacy
copyright
principles of robotics
title “I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security
title_full “I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security
title_fullStr “I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security
title_full_unstemmed “I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security
title_short “I spy, with my little sensor”: fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security
title_sort i spy with my little sensor fair data handling practices for robots between privacy copyright and security
topic design ethics
robot ethics
privacy
copyright
principles of robotics
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2017.1318356
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