Whose Responsibility Is It Anyway? Dealing with the Consequences of New Technologies

Abstract

The infrastructure of our information and communication networks is quickly developing. All over the world, researchers are successfully working on higher capacity data transmission and on connectivity enhancement. Traditional limitations of time, space and quantity are gradually loosing their grip on the availability and accessibility of information and communication. These developments will change the world for the better in many ways. They can, however, have drawbacks as well. These are primarily concerned with the societal impact of the broader use of the technologies after they have been introduced into the market. In this chapter, we ask in which stage of the process of designing, developing, producing and introducing into the market of the technology these consequences should be identified, and by whom this should be done. We also focus on the responsibilities for addressing and solving these drawbacks. In this latter part of the essay, we detach ourselves a little from the practical setting of fast and ubiquitous networks and address a recently often heard claim, i.e., that reflection on the social, moral and legal aspects of technology should primarily take place in the phase of development so that solutions of possible problems can be quasi built into the device. We take a critical stance towards this claim and argue that concern and care for the social, moral and legal aspects should take place during the whole process, by different parties to the extent of their specific capacities and possibilities.