Accountability

Definition of Accountability
• Accountability is the state of being accountable,
liable, or answerable.
• In other words the person who is accountable is the
recipient of the consequences of an action.
• A party doesn’t need to be directly responsible for
the action and consequences to be held
accountable, responsible, in this case, meaning the
cause of.
Concequences
• Lack of clear, well thought out goals and specifications
• Poor management and poor communication among
customers, designers, programmers, etc.
• Pressures that encourage unrealistically low bids, low
budget requests, and underestimates of time
requirements
• Use of very new technology, with unknown reliability and
problems
• Refusal to recognize or admit a project is in trouble
• Re-used software from older systems, unaware of bugs
in previous software
• Weaknesses in design of operator interface
• Inadequate test plan
Benefits
• Design functionality
• Progress
• Observations and perspectives
• Innovations
• New techniques
• Warranties
Technologies Impact
• New technology make it easier to access information
o It has become easier to track and identify users
o It has also become easier to hide your identify
• Most companies legally cover themselves from
misuse through use of there products by have
customers agree to their terms before use. That's
why whenever you download software there is that
long set up time of press “Next” and checking “I
agree”
Accountability Trade Off
• High Accountability
o Devs will be less likely to innovate because with
new technology comes new problems
o End users will be tracked more and will lose
privacy
• Low Accountability
o Devs would be less likely to fully test products and
just try to push out as much as possible for max
profit
o Hacking and other forms of misuse would rise
without someway to hold people accountable
Legal Aspects
• Contract document usually written to decide accountability
of failures, errors, and misuse.
o Contracts between client and developer specifies the
liability and accountability for most cases.
o User contracts which need to be agreed to by end-users
specifies legal accountability of misuse to user.
• Most problems are settled out of higher court levels
• Courts have held contract limitations (warranties)
• Courts have problems with liability standards with the
complexity of computers
• Both sides, accountability and production cannot be one
sided