97 Things About Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know

Chapter 25. We’re Not Yet Ready for a Trustmark for Technology

Hannah Kitcher and Laura James

Comms. Manager, Ada Lovelace Institute Associate, Doteveryone

At Doteveryone, the responsible tech think tank where we worked from 2018 to 2020, we were often asked why we didn’t go ahead with an early idea to create a “trustmark” for technology. The short answer is that digital products and services aren’t like bananas.

Digital products are complicated and change over time (with software updates, new technologies, new data, etc.)—and our attitudes toward them change too. It’s hard to set and evaluate useful common standards in this sort of setting.

At Doteveryone, we looked into what trustmarks for tech would look like, and after research and prototyping, we found a trustmark wasn’t the most useful thing we could do to create change.

Trustmarks are common tools to demonstrate business responsibility, whether it’s GasSafe for heating technicians, or Fairtrade on food and other products. In 2017, with growing concerns about big tech, algorithms, and more, as well as calls for greater responsibility, a lot of people mentioned trustmarks for digital technology, and it made sense to consider taking an idea common in other sectors into this new one.

After some research, Doteveryone was able ...