Am I My Code’s Keeper?
Am I My Code’s Keeper?
To what extent are we responsible for the consequences of our work? Can we assume our users will use our products in the manner that we intended?
If I create an app to help people keep in touch with their friends, is it my responsibility to put in place proper safeguards to ensure it isn’t used to stalk and harass people?
In this week’s Torah portion we read:
כִּ֤י תִבְנֶה֙ בַּ֣יִת חָדָ֔שׁ וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ מַֽעֲקֶ֖ה לְגַגֶּ֑ךָ וְלֹֽא־תָשִׂ֤ים דָּמִים֙ בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־יִפֹּ֥ל הַנֹּפֵ֖ל מִמֶּֽנּוּ:
When you build a new house, you shall make a guard rail for your roof, so that you shall not cause blood [to be spilled] in your home if the one who falls should fall from it [the roof].
- Devarim 22:8
This verse is the springboard for many pages of Talmudic discussion about the responsibility we have to ensure that others don’t hurt themselves misusing our property.
But while we can all agree that protecting innocent victims is important, other cases are not so clear-cut.
What about malicious actors? The people who will use our product for nefarious purposes despite our well-meaning Code of Conduct? To what extent are we responsible for them?
After all, the person using our platform to harass others will probably be harassing them whether we allow it or not. If we block them on our platform, they will find another platform and continue their abusive behavior from there. Is it really our responsibility to protect people from themselves?
A deeper look into the verse above holds the answer.
There’s an apparent tautology here; the verse says we should put a fence around the roof of our home lest “the one who falls should fall from it.” “The one who falls” seems redundant; if the person fell off the roof than obviously, they are “the one who falls.”
Rashi explains: “that person may have deserved to fall; nevertheless, you should not be the one to bring about his death.”
Even if the person getting hurt is “one who falls,”; they’ll fall either way. If they don’t fall off my roof, they’ll find another roof to fall off of. It doesn’t matter. It’s your responsibility to ensure that your roof is safe and is not the cause of hurt and pain.
Shabbat Shalom,
Yechiel