Earlier this year I posted a summary of Lepora and Goodin’s (2013) framework for complicity; I now have a draft making use of that framework.

Digital Complicity: The intent and embrace of problematic tech

Abstract: Facebook’s propagation of fake news and bio-hackers’ “chipping” themselves are examples of possible complicity in the creation and embrace of problematic technology. I extend Lepora and Goodin’s (2013) framework for complicity to address this concern. To address intent, I adapt Robert Merton’s (1936) classic essay “The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action.” On the embrace of problematic technology, I make use of Margret Olivia Little’s (1998) notion of culturally complicity. When digital complicity is likely, I conclude with how people have opposed, limited, or (at least) disclaimed the harmful uses of technology they create or embrace.