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| ‘If You’ve Built a Chaos Factory, You Can’t Dodge Responsibility for the Chaos’ | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Don’t bring a knife to a chaos factory. | Don’t bring a knife to a chaos factory. |
| That’s my takeaway after listening to tech leaders at the Code conference last week try to explain the impact of the myriad inventions, good and bad, that they have unleashed upon all of us over the last few years. | That’s my takeaway after listening to tech leaders at the Code conference last week try to explain the impact of the myriad inventions, good and bad, that they have unleashed upon all of us over the last few years. |
| The “chaos factory” is what Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, called Silicon Valley in a commencement address at Stanford on Sunday. | The “chaos factory” is what Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, called Silicon Valley in a commencement address at Stanford on Sunday. |
| “Too many seem to think that good intentions excuse away harmful outcomes,” Mr. Cook told the assembled graduates of a school from which much of the modern internet has sprung. “If you’ve built a chaos factory, you can’t dodge responsibility for the chaos. Taking responsibility means having the courage to think things through.” | “Too many seem to think that good intentions excuse away harmful outcomes,” Mr. Cook told the assembled graduates of a school from which much of the modern internet has sprung. “If you’ve built a chaos factory, you can’t dodge responsibility for the chaos. Taking responsibility means having the courage to think things through.” |
| The graduates may have been listening; the leaders of tech maybe not as much. | The graduates may have been listening; the leaders of tech maybe not as much. |
| Consider a wide-ranging interview I did during the Code conference last week with Andy Jassy, the sharp chief executive of Amazon Web Services, who defended his company’s facial recognition software. The program is called Rekognition — perhaps one of the creepiest names you could give surveillance software — and can match photos and videos with databases. It has been sold to businesses and law enforcement agencies, and its capabilities scare many, given questions of how and where it is deployed. Some critics, for example, are concerned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be using Rekognition to help deport immigrants, but Mr. Jassy would not comment on whether that agency uses the program or not. | Consider a wide-ranging interview I did during the Code conference last week with Andy Jassy, the sharp chief executive of Amazon Web Services, who defended his company’s facial recognition software. The program is called Rekognition — perhaps one of the creepiest names you could give surveillance software — and can match photos and videos with databases. It has been sold to businesses and law enforcement agencies, and its capabilities scare many, given questions of how and where it is deployed. Some critics, for example, are concerned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be using Rekognition to help deport immigrants, but Mr. Jassy would not comment on whether that agency uses the program or not. |
| But he made the case that possible abuses of the technology weren’t necessarily Amazon’s responsibility, because any tech tool can be turned into a weapon — even one as benign as email, which was used in the Sony hack a few years ago. “You could use a knife in a surreptitious way,” he said. | But he made the case that possible abuses of the technology weren’t necessarily Amazon’s responsibility, because any tech tool can be turned into a weapon — even one as benign as email, which was used in the Sony hack a few years ago. “You could use a knife in a surreptitious way,” he said. |
| Amazon has said problems with Rekognition — including one embarrassing experiment by the American Civil Liberties Union in which the program matched 28 members of Congress to other people’s mug shots — have been largely caused by users not employing the correct settings. It has also issued ethical guidelines for the use of Rekognition. Mr. Jassy said the company would double down on the deployment of the new product, a growing business for Amazon, despite increasing worries, including from some of its own employees, about how it could be abused. | Amazon has said problems with Rekognition — including one embarrassing experiment by the American Civil Liberties Union in which the program matched 28 members of Congress to other people’s mug shots — have been largely caused by users not employing the correct settings. It has also issued ethical guidelines for the use of Rekognition. Mr. Jassy said the company would double down on the deployment of the new product, a growing business for Amazon, despite increasing worries, including from some of its own employees, about how it could be abused. |
| “I strongly believe that just because tech could be misused doesn’t mean we should ban it and condemn it,” said Mr. Jassy, urging the federal government to create a national law to govern its use if it was concerned. “I wish they’d hurry up,” he added. “Otherwise, you’ll have 50 different laws in 50 different states.” | “I strongly believe that just because tech could be misused doesn’t mean we should ban it and condemn it,” said Mr. Jassy, urging the federal government to create a national law to govern its use if it was concerned. “I wish they’d hurry up,” he added. “Otherwise, you’ll have 50 different laws in 50 different states.” |
| That “we’ll make it until they start making laws” refrain has become common among techies these days, including in a high-profile please-regulate-me op-ed by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Still, pressing forward with new and potentially fraught innovations, on Tuesday, the social networking giant uncloaked its Libra project, a new cryptocurrency system aimed at its billions of users. Though the company made sure to stress the many efforts it was making to protect the system’s data and integrity with partners and management by an independent entity, the move begs for stringent regulation. But the release of this offering right in the midst of punishing scrutiny of how the company has bollixed its main platform is what one might call a gangster move. Not literally, fingers crossed. | That “we’ll make it until they start making laws” refrain has become common among techies these days, including in a high-profile please-regulate-me op-ed by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Still, pressing forward with new and potentially fraught innovations, on Tuesday, the social networking giant uncloaked its Libra project, a new cryptocurrency system aimed at its billions of users. Though the company made sure to stress the many efforts it was making to protect the system’s data and integrity with partners and management by an independent entity, the move begs for stringent regulation. But the release of this offering right in the midst of punishing scrutiny of how the company has bollixed its main platform is what one might call a gangster move. Not literally, fingers crossed. |
| Which is to say: We make, we break, you fix. | Which is to say: We make, we break, you fix. |
| Tech’s ploy to assuage its growing chorus of detractors has been to beg for forgiveness over and over for making a mess, promise to follow laws once someone else figures out a way to manage the madness, and then hire an army of lobbyists to make sure those rules are not too onerous. | Tech’s ploy to assuage its growing chorus of detractors has been to beg for forgiveness over and over for making a mess, promise to follow laws once someone else figures out a way to manage the madness, and then hire an army of lobbyists to make sure those rules are not too onerous. |
| But as Mr. Cook put it, you can’t “claim credit without accepting responsibility.” (Mr. Cook is considered a scold by many in Silicon Valley, as are others who point out issues — I am a bummer, Roger McNamee a crank, Tristan Harris a goody-goody — you get the idea.) | But as Mr. Cook put it, you can’t “claim credit without accepting responsibility.” (Mr. Cook is considered a scold by many in Silicon Valley, as are others who point out issues — I am a bummer, Roger McNamee a crank, Tristan Harris a goody-goody — you get the idea.) |
| Tech’s reticence to take responsibility was top of mind in another interview during the conference, with Jonathan Ryan, the head of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or Raices. Appearing after Mr. Jassy, Mr. Ryan said he was struck by the attitude of too many tech execs like him, especially given how high the stakes are as the situation at the border becomes ever more dire. | Tech’s reticence to take responsibility was top of mind in another interview during the conference, with Jonathan Ryan, the head of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or Raices. Appearing after Mr. Jassy, Mr. Ryan said he was struck by the attitude of too many tech execs like him, especially given how high the stakes are as the situation at the border becomes ever more dire. |
| Pointing out that companies like Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft, Palantir and others have been supplying the immigration agencies with all kinds of software, devices and services, some of which may have been used to help separate children from their families, Mr. Ryan said he was perplexed as to why tech companies did not have more of an ethical conscience. | Pointing out that companies like Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft, Palantir and others have been supplying the immigration agencies with all kinds of software, devices and services, some of which may have been used to help separate children from their families, Mr. Ryan said he was perplexed as to why tech companies did not have more of an ethical conscience. |
| “I think that what the companies right now that are holding the power need to recognize is that the government could not do what it is doing now without them,” he said. The tech companies’ tools are making it possible, he suggested, to track immigrants with increasing expertise: “What we’ve seen is a scaling up and a quickening of the efficiency of this tyrannical operation.” | “I think that what the companies right now that are holding the power need to recognize is that the government could not do what it is doing now without them,” he said. The tech companies’ tools are making it possible, he suggested, to track immigrants with increasing expertise: “What we’ve seen is a scaling up and a quickening of the efficiency of this tyrannical operation.” |
| Tech companies have ignored calls by Raices and other groups to stop working with the immigration agencies, even as the crackdowns continue — including mass migrant arrests that President Trump signaled (via Twitter, of course) would be taking place next week. Mr. Ryan’s colleague Erika Andiola noted that the tech companies’ tools are helping a “machine of deportation.” | Tech companies have ignored calls by Raices and other groups to stop working with the immigration agencies, even as the crackdowns continue — including mass migrant arrests that President Trump signaled (via Twitter, of course) would be taking place next week. Mr. Ryan’s colleague Erika Andiola noted that the tech companies’ tools are helping a “machine of deportation.” |
| “If tech wants to walk hand in hand with our government in this experiment in tyranny,” Mr. Ryan told the crowd, “then go for it.” | “If tech wants to walk hand in hand with our government in this experiment in tyranny,” Mr. Ryan told the crowd, “then go for it.” |
| But, if you want to use Mr. Jassy’s metaphor instead, tech might want to consider this: Trying to catch these kinds of falling knives — and fall they will eventually — is likely to be pretty painful. | But, if you want to use Mr. Jassy’s metaphor instead, tech might want to consider this: Trying to catch these kinds of falling knives — and fall they will eventually — is likely to be pretty painful. |
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