The Roles of Technology Assessment and Civil Society in the Development of Controversial Technical Innovations

Thomas Ruddy

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2000)

Civil Society (CS) often tries to exercise influence on the development of controversial technical innovations that are expected to benefit some smaller groups often in the private sector for reasons of economic efficiency or commercial profit or to combat terrorism. Recent examples of such attempts include governance of the expanding Internet Domain Name System (DNS), especially the profitable "dot.coms", the introduction of biometric passports bearing Radio-Frequency Identifiers (RFID) to monitor foreigners' crossing borders with Passenger Name Records (PNR) and the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) to boost crop yields and provide new medical treatments. Typically the innovation takes place in the private sector. However national governments soon intervene to regulate, when citizen dissatisfaction becomes apparent, and intergovernmental organizations become involved when conflicts arise between the governments. Results of the study show that if potential risks are not assessed in the technical sphere as part of predictive technology assessment, the ensuing debate in the political sphere may come too late for any correction of investments that are made in the new technology.