Tech is Amazing; Tech is Terrible
The recent scandal surrounding the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which rather unscrupulously harvested personal information from Facebook to aid its microtargeting work, has added more fuel to the debate around ethics, responsibility and public protections for rapidly-advancing digital technologies.
As many delete their Facebook profiles in outrage, it seems worth exploring what can and must be done to protect the public without demonizing technology writ large.
What do we do about platform abuse and the way social media networks are giving haven to and galvanizing some of the ugliest rhetoric? Who is responsible when technology is used unethically, and how can we prevent bad actors from misusing technology to harm society?
The rise of information technology — from AI, to automation, to our incredible smartphones — gives us greater technical abilities than ever before. But we will only wield tech in ways that benefit people if our public protections catch up with the pace of change.
Unfortunately, tech companies are so far ahead of the government’s ability to oversee them, much of what they do is beyond accountability. Regulators just don’t understand what is going on, and many tech companies are not eager to explain. Stuck in tired debates, in the hamster wheel of modern politics, our leaders aren’t on top of what the Big Data market means for our rights, and certainly aren’t looking ahead to what AI, automation and new technology will mean for society.
People are starting to become more and more concerned. There is a risk that this concern manifests in a kind of anti-tech backlash, but, I would argue, our problem is not that new technology is coming online. Technology has the potential to make our lives better and solve our planet’s most pressing problems.
No, our problem is that we lack the kind of protections that make sure technology is used for public good.
Why is it so hard to control tech companies?
You might have noticed, but the Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Facebook — the “Big Five” — are, in fact, big companies. Even after taking some lumps the last few weeks, they have a combined market value of around $3 trillion.
They aren’t the only big companies: The tech industry is comparable in size to the oil, banking, and real estate industries. But they are involved in so much of how we live our lives — how we connect and talk to each other, how we shop and buy, how we work, how we get our news. And unlike other big industries, we don’t have significant public interest protections. There is no FDA program to evaluate the impact of smartphones on public health before they are sold, there is so federal review of algorithms that guide news searches as the SEC might review financial transparency for a publicly traded company.
You can freeze your credit report with all three major credit bureaus, in some states for free — thanks to hard fought consumer protection laws. You would be hard pressed to do the same with the data collected on you by your internet service provider and Big Data operations like Facebook.
In fact, the tech industry has been adept at dodging regulation. Facebook lobbied for and received an exemption from FEC laws governing disclosure around political ads. They pointed out how Facebook ads were small and dynamic and the traditional review process, and the legal disclosures required on TV and radio ads, were poorly applied. And now we see that these loopholes were exploited to post polarizing and hateful content by those interested in sewing resentment to undermine our democracy.
We should expect that any powerful tool will be used for better and worse.
The belief that these platforms, or any of our new tech, will work as intended without side effects or abuse is not wise.
We need accountability and independent oversight for the tech industry . This will be a huge challenge to set up, in part because so few people really understand how the most advanced systems work. A bi-partisan measure to address some of the problems found through the Facebook scandal is a good first step.
Innovators’ chief concern is pushing the envelope of the possible — as it should be. They should not be expected to self-regulate, and a strong outside review process will make sure they aren’t asked to.
We need technology to help solve many of our problems. That’s why it is essential we restore public confidence in the way tech is used. Clear public interest protections and standards can unleash the creative people in tech who want to make things that enrich people’s lives.
When we don’t focus our technical abilities on what matters most to people, we waste the tremendous potential we now enjoy — that’s the idea behind Thinking BIG.
