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RailsConf 2019 - Keynote: Ethical Issues in the Law and Tech with Production Ideation, Creation & Shipping by Bari A Williams _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Cloud 66 - Pain Free Rails Deployments Cloud 66 for Rails acts like your in-house DevOps team to build, deploy and maintain your Rails applications on any cloud or server. Get $100 Cloud 66 Free Credits with the code: RailsConf-19 ($100 Cloud 66 Free Credits, for the new user only, valid till 31st December 2019) Link to the website: https://cloud66.com/rails?utm_source=-&utm_medium=-&utm_campaign=RailsConf19 Link to sign up: https://app.cloud66.com/users/sign_in?utm_source=-&utm_medium=-&utm_campaign=RailsConf19 _______________________________________________________________________________________________
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In her keynote address at RailsConf 2019, Bari A. Williams discusses the ethical implications of law and technology, particularly regarding product ideation, creation, and deployment. She emphasizes the critical role software engineers play in safeguarding ethical standards in tech innovation. Williams addresses several key points: - **Importance of Diverse Perspectives**: Williams advocates for diversity and inclusion in tech teams, explaining that a lack of diverse voices can lead to harmful product outcomes, as exemplified by products designed without considering varied user experiences. - **Ethics in Product Development**: She highlights the necessity of incorporating ethical considerations during product development, urging engineers to ask difficult questions about potential misuse of technology, citing her experiences at Facebook where warnings about certain product features were overlooked. - **Consequences of Neglecting Diversity**: Williams illustrates how discriminatory practices can emerge from a lack of diverse input, describing the Facebook ad platform's facilitation of discriminatory housing ads and related legal backlash. - **Advocating from Within**: Engineers and developers are encouraged to be internal advocates for ethical practices, fostering a culture that prioritizes thoughtful consideration of how products impact all users, especially marginalized communities. - **Need for Accountability and Action**: She warns against the impacts of rushing product launches at the expense of thorough ethical evaluations, particularly in scenarios where technology may disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. - **Real-World Examples**: Williams references high-profile legal issues, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, to demonstrate the repercussions of ignoring ethical standards and the voices of underrepresented groups in design and decision-making processes. - **Cognitive vs. Representational Diversity**: The talk also distinguishes between cognitive diversity, which encompasses different ways of thinking, and representational diversity, which focuses on visible demographic differences, noting that both are crucial in fostering an inclusive tech environment. In conclusion, Bari A. Williams calls for software engineers to actively engage in discussions about ethics, advocate for diverse hiring and input, and ensure that products serve all communities fairly. In doing so, they have the potential to create technology that uplifts rather than harms society.
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