Digital Looting

Tech gives you power. But will you use it for good or evil?

Co-authored with Dr Chris Merritt

For every use, there is an equal and opposite misuse. Not quite Newton’s third law of motion, but it’s unnervingly accurate.

You’ve probably heard the phrase: necessity is the mother of invention. When human beings need something, we innovate. Free market capitalism counts that among its virtues.

But anthropologist Jared Diamond said that it’s other way round: invention is the mother of necessity. This is the real history of human innovation: someone invents something, and someone else finds a way to use it. Or, pretty often, misuse it.

The best and the worst

Technology simultaneously shows us the best and the worst of human nature: innovation and corruption. How long ago did our first ancestor use a hammer to attack someone rather than build something? How soon after the Internet was created did the first cybercrime take place?

When was the first human tool used to attack someone rather than build something?

The pace of innovation in digital tech offers us more opportunities than ever to use and misuse. Consider the following examples:

· A programmer in Silicon Valley creates a way to share video online in real-time, and a racist immediately uses it to spread hate messages.

· A cryptocurrency is created with the goal of providing a secure, decentralised medium of exchange. The next day, it’s being used to launder money.

· A company builds a drone capable of carrying a large payload, hoping it will transport humanitarian supplies to inaccessible locations. The following week it’s being used for smuggling.

· A medical company invents an Internet of Things pacemaker which can be monitored online. For the right price, a hacker can murder someone by making it malfunction.

Who’s in charge here?

Digital innovations frequently create new, ungoverned spaces where misuse has little consequence for the abuser. By the time new laws catch up, the tech has moved on. It’s like the police arriving at a riot to find the window smashed and the 40-inch TV already stolen. The anonymity of the web makes digital looting even easier.

Darknet drug buyers can read Amazon-style customer reviews

In Freudian terms, this is like removing the social superego and allowing the impulses of the id free rein. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the Darknet, where cryptomarkets flourish and buyers have more choice over drugs or weapons than ever before. They can even read customer reviews.

But when laws can’t keep up with how we use tech innovations, some people take matters into their own hands. They decide to use their digital powers for good.

To use or to misuse, that is the question

One sector using digital tools for positive innovation is Greentech. For example, Green City Solutions developed the ‘CityTree’ — a mobile wall of moss which reduces air pollution and provides real-time feedback on air quality using the Internet of Things.

Fintech startup WorldRemit created a simple app for low-cost money transfer from smartphone or tablet. This allows migrants to send money home quickly, utilising basic mobile access in poorer countries to avoid high agent fees. The company employs machine learning for ID verification to stop fraud or criminal / terrorist use.

City Tree uses Internet of Things technology to improve urban air quality

Elsewhere, in the non-profit sector PeaceTech Lab have applied Artificial Intelligence-based web analytics to monitor and counter hate speech in South Sudan and online extremism in Kenya.

But it isn’t just smaller organisations who’ve embraced ethical use of digital technologies.

Corporate giant Unilever is the world’s second biggest spender on marketing. It recently threatened to pull its advertising from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube if those platforms did not do more to protect minors and limit fake news. The company was worried about its image being associated with the dark side of social media. If it happens, this would be one of the largest commercial events in the tech backlash or ‘tech-lash’ led by those unhappy with how we are using digital technologies.

All of these examples are facets of a broader trend called digital humanism.

The digital humanist movement gives us a roadmap for using technology: not for maximum profit or efficiency, but for maximum human wellbeing. Building friendships and communities. Generating knowledge and opportunities. Celebrating endeavour and achievement. These are wise choices for tech use.

Digital technologies give us tremendous power. The question is: will you use it for good or evil?