Coders have ethical responsibilities. We can extract remarkably precise intuitions about people. Do we have a right to know what they didn’t consent to share, even when they shared data leading us there? Balancing human needs and business specs can be tough. How do we mitigate against unintended outcomes? In this talk, we look at examples of uncritical programming, & painful results of using insightful data in ways that were benignly intended. You’ll learn practices for examining how code might harm individuals. We’ll look at how to flip the paradigm, for consequences that are better for all.

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Originally presented at RubyConf 2015

RubyConf has been the main annual gathering of Rubyists from around the world since 2001. RubyConf is brought to you by the team at Ruby Central, as well as a small but dedicated corps of volunteers. While we depend on the awesomeness of the whole Ruby community to contribute to a terrific experience every year, there are a few individuals that work especially hard to produce RubyConf.

KatieConf 2019. Header image by Nicolas Tissot. Sister conference of JessConf. Contact