National Security
Technology · Issue No. 03
Responsible Technology
Corporate accountability, ethical frameworks and the governance of technology in an era of consequential innovation.
Special.Report Editors
January 2022
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The technology industry's self-regulatory frameworks have not kept pace with the scale and consequence of the products it deploys. This report examines the concept of responsible technology — what it means, who defines it, how it is implemented and whether voluntary corporate commitments are adequate substitutes for regulatory oversight.
THE REPORT
The phrase 'responsible technology' has become ubiquitous in corporate communications, policy documents and academic literature. It encompasses a range of commitments — to privacy, safety, fairness, transparency and human rights — that technology companies have made in response to public pressure, regulatory scrutiny and internal advocacy.
The gap between commitment and practice has been the subject of sustained criticism. Researchers, journalists and former employees have documented cases in which companies' stated values conflicted with their commercial incentives — and in which commercial incentives prevailed.
The regulatory response has been uneven. The European Union has moved aggressively to establish binding standards through the GDPR, the AI Act and the Digital Services Act. The United States has relied primarily on voluntary frameworks, sector-specific regulation and enforcement actions that address specific harms without establishing comprehensive standards.
This report examines the responsible technology frameworks that major companies have adopted, the evidence on their effectiveness, the regulatory alternatives under consideration, and the fundamental question of whether the technology industry can govern itself — or whether the consequences of its products require a different kind of accountability.
