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Dear Jeremy, Thanks for your note. I'll agree that we all recognize this kind of situation, but this does not consitute agency in the sense of the ability to willfully act or cause action. This would include willfull acts that constitute negligence or purposeful inaction where obligations require action. This is the nature of accountability or responsibility at law, the kind Francois's post suggested might apply "in extremes." The malfunction of a machine may mitigate the responsibility of someone whose actions the malfunctioning machine may change or influence, the machine itself is not responsible nor can a machine be held accountable. To the contrary, when a machine malfunctions due to faulty constructions, programming or maintenance, a human actor or a company will be held responsible, or a firm that issues the warranty or insurance policy will be accountable. Without arguing that Latour believes machines to be independent actors, the ANT argument made to me was that the artifacts in question possessed agency of a kind more independent than the agency of a malfunctioning machine. Responsibility for a collision between drivers would also be mitigated a tree fell across a roadway or a bridge collapsed. We might agree that the falling tree or the bridge were at fault or "responsible" for the collision, but we would not prosecute, fine, or imprison the tree or the bridge. If the tree were known to be rotten, however, and an order had been issued for removal six months prior to the accident, the owner of the tree would be held liable. In the same way, if the engineering specifications of the bridge were faulty or the owner of the bridge had faild to mainain it for a decade, the engineers or the organization that owned the bridge would be held accountable. Yours, Ken Jeremy Hunsinger wrote: in regard to machines in law... machines do frequently mitigate situations and are interpreted as such in law. so driving a car and killing someone at a redlight could be mitigated by a redlight system failure, or similar situations. this is the sort of agency that machines have in law, and most courts recognize it. this is also the sort of agency that ANT recognizes.