On February 18 2014, Netopia held a seminar at L’Atelier to discuss Ethics in the Digital World – A Closer Look at Clouds, Big Data and the Internet of Things and launched a Netopia report on the topic.
The emergence of the cloud services, big data and the internet of things could be one of the greatest boons to humankind in history, enabling a paradigm-shift in quality of life. The bad news is that there could be a downside. The development has profound implications for us in terms of surveillance, privacy and consumer rights.
> Will we humans remain in control of the process, or will the process begin to control us?
> Where do human rights such as privacy stand?
> Can or should a system of ethics be imposed on computer software and the internet of things itself?
> Are existing legal frameworks and approaches able to adapt to the coming machine age?
> What rules will govern the makers of the machines and the ‘Lords of the Clouds’?
In the midst of the complex and often exciting technical changes that are being developed to help the human condition, we should ensure that humanity itself is not left out of the equation.
Part 1/2, Per Strömbäck, Dr Adrian Cheok and Dr Murray Shanahan
Part 2/2, Per Strömbäck, Nicole Dewandre and Peter Warren
Speakers at the event:
Nicole Dewandre,
Advisor for societal issues to the Director General,
DG CONNECT, European Commission
Peter Warren and Jane Whyatt,
Technology journalists,
Authors of the report Making the Digital World Ethical
Dr Murray Shanahan,
Professor of Cognitive Robotics,
Imperial College London
Dr Adrian Cheok,
Professor of Pervasive Computing,
City University London
Moderator: Per Strömbäck,
Editor Netopia
Download the full report in English here.
Preface of the report here.
