big trends
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45/2001 establishes the rules for data
protection in the EU institutions and
the creation of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) as independent supervisory authority to monitor
and ensure people's right to privacy
when EU institutions and bodies process their personal data. The
European Group on Ethics in Science and New
Technologies (EGE) is an independent
advisory body of the President of the
European Commission that advises
on all aspects of Commission policies
and legislation where ethical, societal, and fundamental rights dimensions intersect with the development
of science and new technologies. In
2015, the EDPS appointed the Ethics
Advisory Group (EAG) “to explore the
relationships between human rights,
technology, markets, and business
models in the 21st century.”
Autonomous systems. We broadly
define autonomous systems as systems that have the ability of substituting humans in supplying (contextual)
information that the system may use
to make decisions while continuously running. Depending on the nature,
property, and use of this information, an autonomous system may impact moral rights of the users, be they
single citizens, groups, or the society
as a whole. The widespread use of AI
techniques in the implementation
of these systems has exacerbated the
problem contributing to the creation
of systems and technologies whose
behavior is intrinsically opaque.
1, 2, 14
In this article, we will stick to the notion of autonomous technology rather than with AI technology. Indeed,
we are concerned with the autonomous decision-making capabilities
of systems even if those capabilities
are a consequence of the availability of more and more complex AI enabling technologies.
The harm of digital society. The
last years have witnessed an increasing rate of concerns on the impact
of autonomous technologies on our
societies. Economy, politics, and human being natural rights are endan-
WE LIVE IN the digital world, where every day we interact
with digital systems either through a mobile device
or from inside a car. These systems are increasingly
autonomous in making decisions over and above
their users or on behalf of them. As a consequence,
ethical issues—privacy ones included (for example,
unauthorized disclosure and mining of personal
data, access to restricted resources)—are emerging as
matters of utmost concern since they affect the moral
rights of each human being and have an impact on the
social, economic, and political spheres.
Europe is at the forefront of the regulation and
reflections on these issues through its institutional
bodies. Privacy with respect to the processing of
personal data is recognized as part of the fundamental
rights and freedoms of individuals. Regulation (EC)
The European
Perspective
on
Responsible
Computing
DOI: 10.1145/3311783
BY PAOLA INVERARDI
