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Accountability in a Computerized Society [5 citations — 0 self]

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@MISC{Nissenbaum_accountabilityin,
    author = {Helen Nissenbaum},
    title = {Accountability in a Computerized Society},
    year = {}
}

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Abstract:

: This essay warns of eroding accountability in computerized societies. It argues that assumptions about computing and features of situations in which computers are produced create barriers to accountability. Drawing on philosophical analyses of moral blame and responsibility, four barriers are identified: (1) the problem of many hands, (2) the problem of bugs, (3) blaming the computer, and (4) software ownership without liability. The paper concludes with ideas on how to reverse this trend. If a builder has built a house for a man and has not made his work sound, and the house which he has built has fallen down and so caused the death of the householder, that builder shall be put to death. If it destroys property, he shall replace anything that it has destroyed; and, because he has not made sound the house which he has built and it has fallen down, he shall rebuild the house which has fallen down from his own property. If a builder has built a house for a man and does not make his wor...

Citations

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