Dear Lars,

You wrote,

—snip—

If my 87 yr old father receives a ransomware mail, that he clicks and thereby resend it to hundreds of people, does he have agency? Even though he has no idea what that is? Even though the designer of the mail spent a lot of time to make it difficult for her to understand that it was a ransomware mail? In theory he could have learnt about such mails and not clicked it, but there is only so much time in life and at a certain age you wouldn’t even know that there is such things to be learnt. He is also brought up in a culture were it was impolite not to open and read mail (the paper variety).

Is agency then connected to the concept of affordance? Or is the responsibility always with agent? Or was he just a medium? Does the role of medium change to agent with knowledge, ability or interest? Or how do we understand the ”ransomware system’s” agency?

—snip—

Agency requires knowledge and it entails the concept of responsibility. If someone is deceived or incapable of making an appropriate decisions, the concept of diminished capacity would apply in a court case. The example you give isn’t usually in the courts, but it requires deeper consideration.

In the example you give, the person who designs the ransomware is the principal actor. The principal actor has agency and delegates it to others.

The ransomware system doesn’t possess agency, either. The designer and beneficiary of the ransomware system remains the principal actor, much like the person who aims the gun and pulls the trigger.

As you explain it here, your 87-year-old father is neither an agent nor a medium. In terms of responsibility, he is a victim, even though his lack of skill and capacity enables the principal actor to harm other victims. 

Con artists and bad actors have always made a profession of choosing their marks (victims) carefully. They rely on a clever mix of tools. These include how most people understand common courtesy and responsible behaviour, and the tools nearly always incorporate changing customs and current technology. As a result, it is usually easier to trick older people who haven’t adapted to new ways than it is to trick those active in forms of working life that lead to and demand current skills and knowledge. For similar but slightly different reasons, it is easier to trick young, inexperienced people who have not yet had the range of experiences that lead to the current skills and knowledge enabling others to be appropriately wary.

This kind of thing is a major business today. In different forms and guides, it accounts for massive gains and losses across all economies. It has been a major form of criminal enterprise in every civilisation since human beings first came together in societies and cities. There is a rich literature on this subject. 

Con artists even have their own, highly developed professional vocabulary. Their jargon is as sophisticated and careful as the professional languages of the law enforcement officers who chase them. It is as specialised and technical as that of the lawyers who prosecute them and the lawyers who defend them when they are brought to court.

We generally don’t treat medical patients as agents or mediums when they get a disease. Even though they may in part be principal actors in deciding on their course of treatment, this is normally a case of co-design undertaken with medical experts and physicians.

A ransomware attack or any form of malware uses common behaviour to spread a technological parasite to the advantage of the creator who spread it deliberately. I’d compare the 87-year-old victim of ransomware attack to someone who gets a disease, or to the victim of a robbery or mugging.   

All these issues require careful consideration if we are to understand the subtle issues involved in agency.

You posted a valuable example. It raises many relevant issues.

Yours,  

Ken

Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/

Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Eminent Scholar | College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning | University of Cincinnati ||| Email  [log in to unmask] | Academia https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn 






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