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Accountability and Computer Decision Systems

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Abstract

Are designers responsible for all of the uses of the systems they create?
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... someone should be held legally liable for the outcomes of using the system); or 4. To attribute role assignments (i.e. someone failed to do something required by her role, for example, warn clients of some potential limitation of the system) (Johnson and Mulvey, 1995). ...
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Autonomous driving systems (ADS) operate in an environment that is inherently complex. As these systems may execute a task without the permission of a human agent, they raise major safety and responsibility issues. To identify the relevant issues for information systems, we conducted a critical and scoping review of the literature from many disciplines. The innovative methodology we used combines bibliometrics techniques, grounded theory, and a critical conceptual framework to analyse the structure and research themes of the field. Our findings show that there are certain ironies in the way in which responsibility for apparently safe autonomous systems is apportioned. These ironies are interconnected and reveal that there remains significant uncertainty and ambiguity regarding the distribution of responsibility between stakeholders. The ironies draw attention to the challenges of safety and responsibility with ADS and possibly other cyber-physical systems in our increasingly digital world. We make seven recommendations related to 1) value sensitive design and system theory approaches; 2) stakeholders’ interests and interactions; 3) task allocation; 4) deskilling; 5) controllability; 6) responsibility (moral and legal); 7) trust. We suggest five areas for future IS research on ADS. These areas are related to socio-technical systems, critical research, safety, responsibility, and trust.
... As the public is learning with climate change reports, modeling unprecedented and rapidly-changing issues are complex and built on untested assumptions about cause and effect, feedback loops, as well as too many (unknown-)unknowns [20]. Similar advice has been proposed to ensure modelers are being mindful of issues around their modeling assumptions [21], boundary judgments [22], framing [23], transparency [24], accountability [25], mathematical complexity [15], and communication [8,26]. All together, the above points call for a type of modeling work that ensures its outputs serve society, without becoming a Trojan horse for external influences that could undermine the legitimacy and credibility of science and its practitioners. ...
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... The experiment demonstrates that harms to liberal democracy can be a reasonable way to judge technological risks. Liberal democratic norms are another factor to consider to the wider study of software and technological accountability (Johnson and Mulvey, 1995;Nissenbaum, 1994 deliberative democracy as well as between liberal and republican traditions) (Karppinen, 2013). ...
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NationBuilder connects voters, politicians, volunteers and staffers in an integrated digital system. Political parties across the globe use it to manage data and campaigns. Unlike most political technology providers, NationBuilder is nonpartisan and sells to anyone. Given recent controversy around political technology, this paper looks for empirical examples of questionable use. Drawing on a 2017 scan of NationBuilder installations globally, the study identifies three questionable uses as: (1) a mobilisation tool for hate or groups targeting cultural or ethnic identities, (2) a profiling tool for deceptive advertising or stealth media, and (3) a fundraising tool for entrepreneurial journalism. These questionable uses may require NationBuilder to revise its ‘Acceptable Usage Policy’ and raises broader questions about the responsibilities of political technology firms to liberal democracy.
... 2 In the case of IT use, business codes are seen as a necessary intervention to promote good business practices (Payne and Landry, 2005). Issued by IT managers and/or other senior managers, they aim to clarify responsibilities (Johnson and Mulvey, 1995;Oz, 1992) and influence behavior (Leonard and Cronan, 2001). However, despite initial enthusiasm (Oz, 1992), research has indicated that they have a limited impact on UITU. ...
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Thesis
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Chapter
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