Page - 63 - in Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies - Conference Proceedings of the 17th STS Conference Graz 2018

collective utility. While the accrual of happiness being the sole purpose of life is debatable, there is little doubt that ethical decision making should involve the participative effort of those it most affects. In the design of the proposed framework the primary objective is to be able to determine criteria for taking qualitative decisions on the nature of controls to be put in place for accruing the maximum value. The overall configuration of the framework is illustrated in Figure 3. This focus is on developing a consistent methodology for managing risk in accruing value. Regional diversity, netizen perception, expert opinion, and cost of controls to mitigate the risk due to consequent threats are factors that contribute to the accrual of pre-defined value thresholds. Assigning likelihood to, and damage caused by a specific threat requires the rationalization of conflicting aims and viewpoints of various agents in the information society. There is a risk of personal bias in assessing the risk itself. As Beck (1992) says “there is no expert on risk... many scientists do go to work with the entire impetus and pathos of their objective rationality, and their effort to be objective grows in proportion to the political content of their definitions.” To facilitate communal harmony the design methodology has not only to be analytical, but necessarily deliberative. Webler (1999) argued that the judging the level of tolerable risk for a community should be the prerogative of the citizens; as they themselves are affected by the adverse effects of the technology. Security, especially cyber-security is an essential component of the design if the intended value is to be accrued through the process of risk analysis. Salvatti (2008) feels that security efforts are often more a “patchwork of concepts rather than a coherent framework”. Security must be built into the design, and the framework continuously updated to keep it relevant to the prevailing threat scenario. Figure 3: Overall Configuration of the Framework 63