will give the professional relevant information, will listen to what the professional says, and ultimately share in the decisions that must be made.

The fiduciary model seems the best model to emulate because it recognizes both the multidimensional character of decision making in computing and the differential in knowledge between experts and non-experts. Computer experts aren’t just building and manipulating hardware, software, and code, they are building systems that help to achieve important social functions, systems that constitute social arrangements, relationships, institutions, and values.

What is the simple message in all of this? In a word, it is “trust.” In two words, it is “public trust.” I used the fiduciary model as the model for all areservingclientsandemployers. expert/non-expert relationships when Whether the field of computing in reality there are significant differ- evolves to come closer to the paradigm ences between a client-professional, of a profession (or not), whether com-employer-employee, and expert-public puter experts choose to see themselves relationship. However, one of the dis- as guns-for-hire (or not), computer ext_Cin _ACg_Muis_lh_ii_fn_eg_tife_ma_etu_mr_ee_ms o_hf_ap_lr _fof_pe_as_gs_eion_as_d,_:a_Ls_ayoup_tert ₁s m₉u_/s₄t_/a₀c₈t so₄a_:s₀t₄o b_Pe_Mwo_Pr_ath_gy _e o₁f pub-hinted at earlier, is that they are com- lic trust. There is much to be gained in mitted to public good even when they doing this and much to be lost in fail-

computer experts
have power—in
virtue of their
expertise, in virtue
of their occupational
roles, and simply
because so many
non-experts depend
on their work.

ure. If computer experts don’t act in a manner that garners and maintains public trust, then the field and its potential to create enormous benefit will not be fully realized. Sure, computing won’t go away, but progress will be slowed and diverted as outside regulators jump in and the public has a mixed experience. Computer experts have power—in virtue of their expertise, in virtue of their occupational roles, and simply because so many non-experts depend on their work. While it is rarely acknowledged and even less often stated, this power has been implicitly granted on the basis of a tacit promise that computers and computing would make for a better world. We go forward building computer infrastructures for essential functions and the public— which does not have the expertise to judge—presumes this is for the good. While computing has taken some positive steps to develop public trust, a lot more could be done.

 

Deborah G. Johnson ( dgj7p@virginia.edu) is the Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

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