Do you believe you behave ethically at work? Have you even thought about it? The world we live in has moved from a physical realm to one where we now live partly digitally. It is growing organically, with every bright idea leading to a thousand new opportunities. But who decides what is the right thing to do in this new world? Well, we do! The Business Analysts and the teams that create it. So far the results have been patchy. There are some great forces for good and some dangerous abuses of new technologies.

1. ba-beyond.eu — #BABeyond20
13 October 2020
We can, but should we?
Modern ethics and the BA
Liz Calder

2. Dr Liz Calder
Blue Raccoon Limited
We Can, But Should We?
Modern Ethics and the BA

3. IT is making our lives easier
<happy shiny image>

5. Some gains come at another’s expense

6. Ryan Air splitting up families

7. Does the BA in you ever ask?
Who decided to do
that was the right
thing to do?
Is it the right thing to
do?

9. Traditional Ethics
a system of accepted beliefs that control behaviour, especially
such a system based on morals:
Acting in ways consistent with what society and individuals typically
think are good values.

13. Paul Virilio
Cultural Theorist
When you invent the ship, you also
invent the shipwreck; when you invent
the plane you also invent the plane
crash; and when you invent electricity,
you invent electrocution….
Every technology carries its own
negativity, which is invented at the
same time as technical progress

14. Modern Ethics
What is the right thing to do in a world that is ever changing and
where society hasn’t had the opportunity to form an opinion yet?
If there’s no-one to tell us what to do, then we have to decide for
ourselves.

15. UnethicalIllegal
Unintended Consequences

16. Where is that in the
Business Case?
P - Political
E – Economic
S – Socio-Cultural
T - Technological
L - Legal
E - Environmental
Who asks
“Should we
do this?”

18. Bots
Internet
harassment
Dark Patterns
AI
Privacy
Misinformation

19. Bots
Internet
harassment
Dark Patterns
AI
Privacy
Misinformation

20. A Common Sense Approach
to Web Usability
Practical guidance for
intuitive navigation and
information design

21. Dark Patterns
Dark Patterns are tricks used in websites and apps that make
you do things that you didn't mean to, like buying or signing up
for something.
www.darkpatterns.org
Types of Dark Patterns
Sneak in Basket Roach Motel Privacy Zuckering
Price Comparison Prevention Misdirection Hidden Costs
Bait and Switch Confirm Shaming Disguised Ads
Forced Continuity Friend Spam

25. “Design is Applied Ethics”
Cennydd Bowles

26. Bots
Internet
harassment
Dark Patterns
AI
Privacy
Fake
News

27. We love Data!

29. Privacy is not our problem
“It’s not like I work in
Healthcare,
Informed Consent
isn’t relevant to me”

30. Privacy is not our problem
But it’s fine so long
as we put it in the
T&C
“It’s not like I work in
Healthcare,
Informed Consent
isn’t relevant to me”

31. • Only 1 in 7 people read their T&C
• It would take weeks and weeks to read all the T&C you have
signed up to
• e.g, iTunes T&C is ~ 20,000 words
• FB about 15,000

32. Privacy is not our problem
No problem, we
anonymise all our
data!
But it’s fine so long
as we put it in the
T&C
“It’s not like I work in
Healthcare,
Informed Consent
isn’t relevant to me”

33. Patient No Age Bracket Sex Severity Attribute 1 Attribute 2
Patient 1 35-45 M 5 ….. …..
Patient 2 0-5 M 2 ….. …..
Patient 3 25-35 F 5 ….. …..
Patient 4 65-75 M 7 ….. …..
Patient 5 25-35 F 6 ….. …..
Patient 6 45-55 F 1 ….. …..
Patient 7 65-75 F 4 ….. …..
Patient 8 5-15 M 3 ….. …..
Patient 9 55-65 M 8 ….. …..

34. Patient No Age Bracket Sex Severity Attribute 1 Attribute 2
Patient 1 35-45 M 5 ….. …..
Patient 2 0-5 M 2 ….. …..
Patient 3 25-35 F 5 ….. …..
Patient 4 65-75 M 7 ….. …..
Patient 5 25-35 F 6 ….. …..
Patient 6 45-55 F 1 ….. …..
Patient 7 65-75 F 4 ….. …..
Patient 8 5-15 M 3 ….. …..
Patient 9 55-65 M 8 ….. …..

35. Where does this leave the Business
Analyst?
Asking questions, I hope…..

36. The sorts of questions to ask
What does healthy
use of this product
look like, what does
unhealthy use look
like?
Will the data we
collect be accurate.
Could it be
misused?
Do our users know
why we want their
data and can they
be certain that’s all
we’ll use it for?
Will this product
create wealth or
asset inequality?
Are we building
bias into this
system?
Could somebody
misuse this system
to track people?
Could this product
be used to harass
people?
Ethicalos.org

37. The sorts of questions to ask
What does healthy
use of this product
look like, what does
unhealthy use look
like?
Will the data we
collect be accurate.
Could it be
misused?
Do our users know
why we want their
data and can they
be certain that’s all
we’ll use it for?
Will this product
create wealth or
asset inequality?
Are we building
bias into this
system?
Could somebody
misuse this system
to track people?
Could this product
be used to harass
people?
Ethicalos.org

38. The sorts of questions to ask
What does healthy
use of this product
look like, what does
unhealthy use look
like?
Will the data we
collect be accurate.
Could it be
misused?
Do our users know
why we want their
data and can they
be certain that’s all
we’ll use it for?
Will this product
create wealth or
asset inequality?
Are we building
bias into this
system?
Could somebody
misuse this system
to track people?
Could this product
be used to harass
people?
Ethicalos.org

41. The sorts of questions to ask
What does healthy
use of this product
look like, what does
unhealthy use look
like?
Will the data we
collect be accurate.
Could it be misused?
Do our users know
why we want their
data and can they be
certain that’s all we’ll
use it for?
Will this product create
wealth or asset
inequality?
Are we building bias
into this system?
Could somebody
misuse this system to
track people?
Could this product be
used to harass
people?
Ethicalos.org

42. We can, but should we?

43. Resources
Darkpatterns.org
Ethicalos.org
Carole Cadwallader – TED talk. FB & Democracy