Socio-ethical Issues of Ubicomp: Societal Trends, Transparency, and Information Control

In this paper, we undertake a consideration of the changes that are occurring in workplaces with the rise of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp). We offer two case studies from research projects to show how contemporary societal trends—such as an increasing attention toward audit, transparency, and control over complexity—play out in concrete workplace settings. Employees and employers discussed ubicomp technologies within the context of the data they would provide and the transparency and control over complexity which this data promised. Companies and even whole industries were seen to be under pressure to become transparent and to provide proof and accounts of everyday work activities. Ubicomp technologies could then lead to new accountability challenges as control shifts could occur with the new availability of data in places about which previously little information had been available. From our case studies, we suggest that the ethical challenges that those face who are tasked with deciding whether to introduce ubicomp technology and also the ethical dilemmas that can occur for those who use such technologies are connected to wider societal trends of informational ubiquity. We find ourselves in socio-technically produced audit cultures in which control over information is all-important. Decision takers within organizations and those regulating the field of intelligent work environments should take into account the results of an increased transparency that the new technologies provide; how liability issues come into play; how responsibilities may shift with the new system; and how to ensure that actors’ control capabilities over the situations they find themselves in are sufficient.