The social responsibility of coding

The power of technology is in its vast reach and scale, as well as its adaptability. We build fast and break things, but what happens when we build fast and make decisions that have real-world ramifications? The impact of our work can be as small as only ourselves, or as large as the world. Understanding our social responsibility as creators is the first step to creating ethical, sustainable, and useful technology.

Transcript

1. The social responsibility of coding Liz Abinante • @feministy
2. harsh topic, liz. sorry about that….
3. but first, a story
4. a farm in kansas (no, this isn’t about dorothy and toto)
5. IP mapping isn’t exact science
6. IP mapping as pseudoscience
7. 39.8333333,-98.585522
8. 39.8333333,-98.585522 ‑
   38.0000,-97.0000
9. 7 billion people 4.2 billion IP(v4) addresses
10. 600 million IP addresses (approximately 14% of all IPv4 addresses)
11. you are being harassed by strangers because of your IP address
12. a toilet is in your driveway because of your IP address
13. your house is being raided because of your IP address
14. all because of an ugly number
15. you are powerless. who do you ask for help when no one is held accountable?
16. we are building things that harm people
17. we are building things that harm people why are we ????
18. technology is powerful because it has vast reach
19. technology is powerful because it’s adaptable
22. technology is problematic because it erases people
26. technology is frivolous because it’s easy and cheap
28. technology is dangerous because it goes unchecked
31. we are building fast and making stupid things
32. we are building fast and breaking things
33. we need to think about some hard questions
34. we need to understand our social responsibility
35. when things go wrong, who is held accountable?
36. is our consumption of technology responsible?
37. are we using ethically produced technologies?
38. are we creating ethical technologies?
39. are we as individuals responsible for the impact of our code?
40. when do we become responsible for the things we create?
41. are we responsibly gathering data and keeping it safe?
42. consent is like a cup of tea. for your data.
43. our impact
44. what we do is not isolated to ourselves
45. everything we do has an impact on others
46. how big can the impact of one tiny action really be?
47. levels of impact
48. yourself
49. family & friends yourself
50. community family & friends yourself
51. country community family & friends yourself
52. world country community family & friends yourself
53. world country community family & friends yourself
54. what impact do you want to have?
55. what impact do you want your work to have?
56. a single decision, many ramifications
57. left-pad disaster
58. twitter block policy
59. product decision or business decision?
60. left-pad disaster
61. twitter block policy
62. every product decision is fundamentally a business decision
63. not about business needs versus engineering
64. we cannot absolve ourselves of responsibility just because we don’t make the decision
65. we need to own responsibility for the things we create
66. impact meets responsibility
67. the bigger the impact, the harder it can be to hold someone responsible
68. …unless it’s a totally catastrophic and very public thing
69. the larger the impact, the larger the consequences
70. world
71. country (& government)
72. community (local & technical)
73. family & friends
74. yourself
75. what do we do?
76. understand why you’re building the thing
77. learn more about the business
78. collaborate with a team
79. think about resources
80. talk to your colleagues
81. be inquisitive
82. thanks! bye! liz abinante • me@liz.codes • @feministy slides speakerdeck.com/feministy
83. • Pineapple laptop https://unsplash.com/search/keyboard?photo=vb_V6W1nmeA • Farm https://unsplash.com/photos/lzbFllF05XY • Sad pug https://www.pexels.com/photo/pug-portrait-dog-closeup-47444/ • Alone https://unsplash.com/photos/_VTgctRg0tA • Group https://unsplash.com/photos/e5EioBQmH8c • Crowded street https://unsplash.com/photos/NGGpOyniTuY • United States https://unsplash.com/photos/1lfI7wkGWZ4 • Globes https://unsplash.com/photos/mluSdDeOksc • “Code” (lol) https://unsplash.com/search/computers?photo=68ZlATaVYIo • Keyboard https://unsplash.com/photos/feXpdV001o4 Images
84. • Theranos http://fortune.com/2017/01/12/arizona-lawsuit- theranos/ • Blue Apron https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/the-not- so-wholesome-reality-behind-the-making-of-your-meal • Uber http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/12/13920258/uber- employees-tracking-celebrities-security-lawsuit Articles