The Integrity of Intelligence: A Bill of Rights for the Information Age PDF
Preview The Integrity of Intelligence: A Bill of Rights for the Information Age
THE INTEGRITY OF INTELLIGENCE Also by Bryan Glastonbury A CASEBOOK OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN THE SOCIAL AND HUMAN SERVICES (edited with W. LaMendola and S. Toole) COMPUTERS IN SOCIAL WORK HOMELESS NEAR A THOUSAND HOMES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE HUMAN SERVICES (editor with W. LaMendola and S. Toole) MANAGING PEOPLE IN THE PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES (with J. Onne and R. Brod!ey) PAYING THE PIPER AND CALLING THE TUNE SOCIAL WORK IN CONFLICT SOCIAL WORK IN CRISIS Also by Walter LaMendola A CASEBOOK OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN THE SOCIAL AND HUMAN SERVICES (edited with B. Glastonbury and S. Toole) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE HUMAN SERVICES (edited with B. Glastonbury and S. Toole) The Integrity of Intelligence A Bill of Rights for the Information Age Bryan Glastonbury Professor in the Department of Social Work Studies University of Southampton Walter LaMendola Vice President of the Colorado Trust Consultant Editor: Jo Campling M St. Martin's Press © Bryan Glastonbury and Walter LaMendola 1992 AII rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission ofthis publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written petmission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W 1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1992 Reprinted 1993 Published in Great Britain by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LT D Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-333-60521-9 ISBN 978-1-349-22734-1 (e Book) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22734-1 First published in the United States of America 1992 by Scholarly and Reference Division, ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-08098-3 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-3 12-10063-6 (pbk.) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Glastonbury, Bryan. The integrity of intelligence : a bill of rights for the information age 1 Bryan Glastonbury, Walter LaMendola; consulting editor, Jo Campling. p. cm. "First published in Great Britain in 1992 by The Macmillan Press Ltd"-T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-08098-3 (clothl - ISBN 978-0-3 12-10063-6 (pbk.) 1. Information technology-Moral and ethical aspects. 1. LaMendola, Walter. Il. Title. HC79.155G53 1992 303.48'33--dc20 92-7976 CIP Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction vii PART I -SETTING THE SCENE I I Intelligence, Integrity and New Technologies 3 2 Status Report 17 3 The Nature and Meru1ing of Data 32 4 The Technological Hare and Social Snail 49 PART 2-PROBLEMS AND PRINCIPLES 61 Introduction 63 5 Global Development 67 6 IT and Big Business 84 7 Developers, Designers and Distributors 98 8 Disadvantaged Majorities I12 9 Insiders and Outsiders 125 10 Consumers and IT: a Love/Hate Relationship? I40 PART 3 -TOWARDS AN ETHICAL FRAMEWORK I6I I1 The Ethics Industries I63 I2 A Bill of Rights I87 Bibliography I95 Index 199 v Acknowledgements This work could not have been completed without the support provided by The Colorado Trust, for which both authors wish to express their appreciation. Walter LaMendola has received many gifts which contributed to this work, for which he expresses general thanks. The Trust donated the gift of time to complete his writing, yet somehow he most appreciated the continuing encouragement from staff and Board. His cousin, Ronald V. Pellegrini, gave him the gift of confidence in his ideas about computing and invested in them many years ago. His mother and father made many sacrifices all of their lives to give him opportunities that they never had, without any conditions, while his brothers have given freely of whatever was needed. Walter especially thanks his daughters, Julie and Teresa, who must wonder if this work will ever be done. Nancy Van De Mark deserves special thanks. She listened, reacted, consoled and sustained, while tolerating both long absences and long working hours over the past three years. . Bryan Glastonbury wru1ts to express appreciation to colleagues in the European Network for Information Technology and Human Services (ENITH) for continuing support and comments on drafts, to Jackie Rafferty both for general comments and a zealous effort to keep the manuscript free of language which might cause offence, and to Sheena Glastonbury for creative backing a..1d tolerating a noisy word-processor in the pre-dawn hours. vi Introduction Computers and telecommunications, the components of what we label Information Technology (1"0, are a very recent part of our history. Few of us knew of the existence of computers before the 1950s, and for many an introduction followed the arrival less than two decades ago of mass produced personal computers, such as the Sinclair ZX series in Britain and the ffiM PC in the United States. Telecommunications have grown up over the same period, making the world appear a much smaller place. Tracking back through published materials, we can find by 1970 the beginning of an awareness that these new technologies would change the nature of society. Japan's Computer Usage Development Institute published The Plan for Information Society in 1972 (JCUDI, 1972). In the succeeding years we can find a growing acceptance of the potential impact of new technologies, and a realisation that they would impinge on our lives and value systems. Amongst the first orgrutizations to become concerned about ethical issues in new technology applications were human and welfare services (Hasenfeld and English, 1974). Despite being backward in their commit ment to and use of computers ru1d networks, human services staff identified important matters about confidentiality and personal data security. Small groups built up in several countries, like CUSSNet (Computer Users in the Social Services Network) in the United States and CASW (Computer Applications in Social Work) in Britain, and in 1987 a first international gathering assembled in Binninghrun, England. It was at Birminghrun and in subsequent conversations that the authors of this book came to the conviction that society needed to confront the ethical challenge posed by information technology, and move to place it within an ethically acceptable frrunework. On a wider stage CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) and ACM SIGCAS (Association for Computing Machin ery, Special Interest Group on Computers and Society) were formed in the USA runongst technicians with similar concerns, and ENITH (European Network for Information Technology and Human Services) has been set up in Europe. The Integrity of Intelligence is in three parts. Part 1 is a scene setter. Its four chapters aim to define the context and subject area, overview selected current information technology developments along with their applications, and outline some of the major issues. Part 2 is about problems vii viii Introduction and principles. It has six chapters, taking in global matters like technology transfer, the role of big business, the impact of people inside the informa tion technology industry, poverty and the Third World, gender and racial discrimination, and the experiences and attitudes of the general public. Part 3 starts the task of looking for solutions. It contains a wide ranging discussion of the actual and potential role of what, borrowing from Masuda (1980), we have called the ethics industries. The book then finishes with a statement of priorities for ethical intervention and a possible Bill of Rights. This volume is a transatlantic effort, bringing the authors face-to-face with the differences which exist in developments, attitudes, organizational structures and cultures on either side of the ocean. Nevertheless, as we have thrashed out the issues from our own cultural and experiential standpoints, so we have come to believe that despite variations at the margin, the core ethics for the fast-advancing infonnation age are global. Further, we need to take a global overview if we are to see the benefits of infonnation technology spreading across poor as well as rich societies. From this global overview we can then have a clear vision of the principles that have to be embedded in local actions, in the ethical use of technologies in the home, the workplace, the neighbourhood, or wherever they impact on our everyday life. The authors of this book are IT enthusiasts. Computers, networks and a range of applications are a significant part of our work lives, and increasingly play a role in our homes. If we spend the following pages offering a critique of the way IT is developing, and where it appears to be going in the future, this is because we are committed to making it work, not wishing to see it b;mished. Our argwnent is that leaving IT to grow uncontrolled is the path to putting democracy in jeopardy, trampling over people's rights, placing more power in the hands of corporations and governments, dehumanizing society, and subjugating the majority of us to an insensitive machine intelligence. Nevertheless, to move to the opposite extreme, and seek to destroy or ban IT development and applications, is to deny progress, deprive us of immensely valuable facilities, cause chaos in areas of social and economic organization which have grown dependent on the technology, and make many of our heavily urbanized communities both ungovernable and incapable of self-maintenance. There has to be a middle way, which achieves the benefits of IT, encourages rather than inhibits its advancement, and yet ensures that it works for humanity, all humanity. At present IT is a mixed blessing, good, indeed brilliant in parts, and not just bad, but threatening, insidious and demoralising in other parts. The middle way is ethical IT, responsive to Introduction ix broad social need, sensitive to the human condition, and accessible to everyone without regard to race, beliefs or economic status. The reader who wants a quick impression of the book will find a summary at the start of each chapter. Those who delve further into the pages will, we hope, be stimulated to tackle some of the issues raised. To aid or inhibit their progress they will find phrases and illustrations from both sides of the Atlantic, and an attempt (please believe us!) to steer clear of specialist jargon. Enjoy.
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