Shout-out: Virt-EU Ethical Stack

The VIRT-EU project has produced tools for ethical reflection and self-assessment for designers and developers of connected products and services (IoT). In this presentation we will showcase two interactive tools produced by the project. 

The first tool is an interactive implementation of the Privacy, Ethical and Social Impact Assessment (PESIA) questionnaire. This tool includes but also goes significantly beyond the familiar privacy impact assessment (PIA) tools, also addressing ethical and social issues respectively. The tool is interactive and geared specifically towards IoT system development challenges. PESIA is based on the common ethical values recognised by international charters of human rights and fundamental freedoms and draws on the results of our extensive research together with IoT designers and developers.

The second tool, the Ethical Stack is part of a series of tools to support creators of new connected technology to reflect on their product’s ethical and social impacts. These tools are intended to enable developers and designers to expose the difference between what they are trying to make and what they are actually making. The tools allow to uncover these gaps through a structured process, to understand these gaps and to work towards practical solutions.

Presentation by Irina Shklovski and Annelie Berner