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Suppose that internet tech giants like facebook and google develop the technology to identify pedophiles and serial killers based on their online behavior with 90% accuracy.
Would it be unethical for facebook/google to not only collect but also share this data with government intelligence agencies for the sake of the public good [preventing as many murders and sexual crimes as possible] or would it be unethical for them not do this?
It violates several values of Western society; individual liberty/sovereignty, the idea that one should only be punished by society for crimes committed instead of crimes likely to be committed, the idea that the 10% likely to be misidentified will suffer as the casualty of utilitarian calculus, etc.
Yet overall, it's likely to help/save more people than it hurts.
I think questions like this have been explored in one way or another in philosophical discussions and art [like the movie 'Minority Report'].
Thoughts?
Would it be unethical for facebook/google to not only collect but also share this data with government intelligence agencies for the sake of the public good [preventing as many murders and sexual crimes as possible] or would it be unethical for them not do this?
It violates several values of Western society; individual liberty/sovereignty, the idea that one should only be punished by society for crimes committed instead of crimes likely to be committed, the idea that the 10% likely to be misidentified will suffer as the casualty of utilitarian calculus, etc.
Yet overall, it's likely to help/save more people than it hurts.
I think questions like this have been explored in one way or another in philosophical discussions and art [like the movie 'Minority Report'].
Thoughts?