This article is written by Natalia Domagala, who works on data ethics policy at the Government Digital Service in the UK. Views and opinions in this article are personal and do not represent those of the UK government.

The year 2020 was undoubtedly unusual and life-changing for all of us. Dominated by the global pandemic, 2020 shut us all in and fundamentally changed the fabric of society.

It was a year of loss and grieving, lightened by brief moments of personal and political reckoning. Finally, it was a year of technology. From remote working, to track and trace apps that were supposed to advance our fight against the virus, technological solutions triumphed in all aspects of our lives.

Social distancing measures forced workplaces and schools to undergo an enforced crash course in remote working — even the most reluctant had to digitalise their practice. Long-term digital advancement plans were implemented in weeks, and for unprepared organisations, this novel remote way of working was a period of frantic improvisation.

You can’t have trust without accountability

For the most part, this rapid technological advancement has been positive, yet it needs to be examined with caution. Technological solutions ought to be developed and used only when all actors understand the risks and opportunities.

In the last few months, there have been concerns that the speed of change has left very little space to explore any potential red flags. To reflect on what has been happening over the past nine months since the virus started spreading globally, I would like to propose three key lessons about technology learned from 2020 that we, people working in policy and the tech sector, should urgently consider for the new year.

Companies and governments must go beyond ethical principles and labels and embed ethics and privacy assessments in their work

Firstly, and most importantly, ethics is no longer optional when technology is a matter of life and death. We must ensure that any technological project is developed and executed in an ethical, privacy-preserving manner.

The development and rollout of coronavirus apps across the world was a fascinating case study of how trust (or lack thereof) can make or break an otherwise sensible solution. Concern from citizens over how their data would be handled impacted take-up of the apps. Companies and governments must go beyond ethical principles and labels and embed ethics and privacy assessments in their work. They ought to secure appropriate consent for data use and reuse, proactively provide information on how the product processes data it collects, and how users can challenge their decisions.

Digital exclusion is real

Secondly, when technology becomes essential to staying up to date in a crisis, digital exclusion has disastrous consequences and needs to be tackled immediately.

When the pandemic broke, approximately 1.9 million households in the UK had no access to the Internet. The digitally excluded were unable to access critical online services, including finding accurate and up-to-date information about Covid-19, accessing health advice, and buying groceries and essentials online. Such digital exclusion meant that many vulnerable people were cut off from the world, especially if they were shielding and isolating significantly longer, beyond the national lockdowns.

For many, not being able to video chat with family and friends meant prolonged periods of loneliness. According to a survey of UK adults which took place during lockdown, one in four said they had feelings of loneliness in the “previous two weeks”, as opposed to just one in ten people shortly before lockdown. The elderly and low-income households are particularly at risk from digital exclusion, as the likelihood of having access to the Internet from home increases along with income.

There are several lessons we can learn from this: for governments and public policy specialists, it is key to prioritise and fund digital inclusion initiatives, especially those on the local level. Community centres and small, grassroots charities often have a wealth of knowledge and information that the central government policy-makers lack on what families, areas, schools, and households suffer the most from digital exclusion. They can identify who needs devices most urgently and provide guidance and tailored training on their use.

On an individual level, we can donate our unused devices to organisations supplying those in need. We should all take the time to help our friends and family who might be at risk of digital exclusion — be it giving an old smartphone to your elderly relatives and showing them how to use it or buying a simple tablet for someone who lives far away.

Enhancing digital literacy

Thirdly, tackling digital inclusion alone is not enough. We must work to enhance the digital literacy of the public and provide accessible resources to increase their capacity to understand technology and its societal implications.

This pandemic has shown an urgent need to improve the governance and democratic accountability of technology; increase the transparency of the sector, its products and outputs, and develop opportunities for public scrutiny

Moreover, there needs to be greater accountability from the providers of technology. For example, in the UK, 22% of the population lacked basic digital skills when the Covid-19 outbreak began. We ought to democratise tech knowledge and skills to enable the public to become meaningful consumers of technological products and services provided by governments and private companies. Meaningful accountability structures can only emerge when the public possesses the appropriate knowledge to understand the process and decisions made in developing technological products.

To achieve that, elementary tech and data literacy skills should be a part of educational curriculums. There should also be open and free courses for adults interested in understanding how technology influences today’s world. Moreover, technological developments need to be communicated to the public in an understandable manner and communications professionals have a significant role in educating the industry on how to achieve that.

Tech is not a panacea

In recent months, many have taken for granted that technology would be our best tool to alleviate the impact of the pandemic.

Governments partnered with developers and software companies to search for a technocentric solution to test, track, and trace populations to contain and combat the virus. In this fast-moving landscape, it’s crucial to ask whether there is sufficient awareness among the producers and consumers about the potential ways these technologies can be misused and the associated long-term risks. Second, we need to ask if these risks have been communicated appropriately, and whether we have consulted with the people whom it will affect the most.

Academics, ethicists, and human rights activists have been calling for more accountability from technology providers. The idea that technology can truly and wholly protect us is more dangerous than bad politics or bad government, suggests Linnet Taylor, an Associate Professor at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society. This pandemic has shown an urgent need to improve the governance and democratic accountability of technology; increase the transparency of the sector, its products and outputs, and develop opportunities for public scrutiny. We have seen the benefits that technology can bring in times of crisis. In 2021, we shall focus on mitigating its risks.

Views and opinions in this article are personal and do not represent those of institutions or organisations that the author may be associated with in professional capacity, unless explicitly stated. – Natalia Domagala

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