New Study: The Blockchain Ethical Design Framework

When historians look back on 2018, they may regard the rates of data literacy in America as one of the most dangerous security threats of our time. However, with the recent criticism of internet companies like Google and Facebook and policies like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), lawmakers are gaining awareness of the value placed on personal data in our connected world. Nearly every online interaction we undertake is tracked, analyzed, and then integrated into product design, marketing campaigns, and other applications to better understand and influence our behavior. We provide behavioral, geospatial, demographic data from the moment we open our browser or app, innocuously offering our location when we geotag or even our slightest interests when we stop scrolling to read an ad in our newsfeed.

While we ultimately still choose to click an item or buy a product online, the immense predictive power of algorithms, wealth of personal data collected, and constant exposure to marketing influences thanks to the ubiquity of digital devices might leave us wondering how much personal agency we actually retain. Policymakers have a responsibility to critically analyze these new technologies and find solutions that best serve society and the values we wish to uphold.

Blockchain technology could provide a solution that enables individuals to retain control over their identity data and license organizations to use for approved purposes. This concept, known as self sovereign identity, is not new: some of the earliest cryptographers envisioned self sovereign identity as a solution to emerging privacy concerns in the early years of the internet.

However, it carries a new degree of salience in the 21st century:

• Aside from data privacy concerns, many migrants have no form of identity, excluding them from relief aid and support structures to help them rebuild their lives. A 2016 report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 20 people are displaced every minute, driving increased urgency to devise identity solutions.
• Cyber attacks that threaten privacy and security are also on the rise. According to a study by Javelin Strategy & Research, there were 16.7 million people in the U.S. consumer market victimized by identity theft in 2017, which was more than a 7% increase from the previous year, and cost consumers $16.8 billion. As more information moves online, the rate of cyber crimes may increase if additional safeguards are not implemented.

Self sovereign identity driven by blockchain may solve these challenges by decentralizing identity information across a blockchain network and encrypting data to ensure only authorized organizations can access it. By storing government-issued information, login credentials, or other types of sensitive information on the blockchain, blockchain removes the single point of failure endemic in centralized databases. It also provides global access to identity information without need for physical documents that can be manipulated or lost. Most importantly, it returns a sense of agency to the individual, enabling citizens to make decisions about who accesses their data and how it can be used.

Despite its significant advantages, creating a universal platform for self sovereign identity poses its own set of questions with moral implications. Identities are formed within the context of community, and therefore reflect a degree of nuance that blockchain technologists will have difficulty capturing when creating a solution. In fact, they will continue to have even greater difficulty as identities evolve beyond the confines of an established blockchain infrastructure. How can a universal platform exist without some sort of categorization that will inherently create conflicting interpretations of identity?

The evolution of identity over time, the critically sensitive nature of identity, and the potential friction caused by a data infrastructure that is resistant to change all raise deep ethical questions about how we can approach blockchain solutions that will serve generations of global populations.

The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University tackles this complex issue in their study, “The Blockchain Ethical Design Framework.” Written by Senior Fellow Cara LaPointe and Research Assistant Lara Fishbane, the whitepaper is the first published study that analyzes the ethical implications that arise when building blockchain solutions.

The study opens by describing blockchain and the principle characteristics, demonstrating how the interconnected nature of the traits demands a strategic approach that realizes desired attributes and mitigates unexpected consequences. Attributes such as transparency, immutability, verifiability, and disintermediation not only provide significant benefits individually, but in the aggregate create compounding dynamics that truly differentiate blockchain technology from any other data infrastructure solutions. These benefits promise to protect human rights, safeguard the environment, drive enormous efficiencies for governments and transform the way citizens interact with their leaders in ways that were previously impossible.

However, these traits also imply significant ramifications if not deployed with a strategic outlook. Take for example a blockchain that disintermediates credit worthiness, such as using social reputation to provide financial services for marginalized populations. While this drives operational efficiencies, eliminates potential corruption from predatory financial institutions and delivers financial inclusion, it might also permanently ingrain cultural biases between communities into the blockchain and exacerbate disparities.

Alternatively, the transparency and immutability of sensitive identity data runs the risk of endangering vulnerable populations if accessed by a public audience, or permanently assigning an identity in a world of constantly fluctuating cultural definitions. Moreover, if data is inaccurately entered on an otherwise trusted and immutable blockchain, either by accident or with malicious intent, the blockchain may more deeply embed social injustices.

Culturally-embedded bias, risk of exposure to vulnerable populations, and codification of inaccuracies demonstrate the gravity of blockchain design decisions and the risk of embedded unethical behavior.

The Blockchain Ethical Design Framework examines the effects of blockchain on individuals and communities by focusing on the intentions behind the blockchain project and using iterative assessments to evaluate and adjust the technology based on its effect on populations. By clearly identifying the problem being addressed by blockchain and selecting ethical objectives, policymakers can be more confident in their design composition and more effectively make difficult decisions.

Policymakers should also evaluate all dimensions of the blockchain ecosystem, including participants and populations indirectly affected, to gain a clearer picture of anticipated outcomes from the blockchain technology. This last process is continuous; as the blockchain is deployed, the dynamic nature of blockchain attributes will affect audiences differently over time, demanding that policymakers remain vigilant for unethical effects before they cause irreparable harm. By following this framework, public sector officials enter the blockchain space equipped with a tool that puts humans at the center of the technology.

The Blockchain Ethical Design Framework provides a first of its kind resource for technologists to better understand and serve the populations benefiting from blockchain technology. In one respect the guide is helping blockchain fulfill its purpose more effectively: a technology designed to instill trust and accountability within the digital ecosystem must do so for everyone, and not the privileged few fortunate enough to access the technology first. However, by instilling ethical foundations into emerging blockchain applications, policymakers and technologists alike offer an opportunity for everyone to participate and benefit in the defining innovations of the 21st century.

You can read the thought-provoking study in full here.