Co-regulating principles for system safety: Agency by design

Safety in the context of user-focused systems is something that is increasingly being legislated for, albeit in ways that often present them as passive recipients of goods and services. However, an effective safety regime for technological solutions is one that empowers users, providing them with a sense of agency, particularly in the context of vulnerable user groups. This article argues that we are better able to secure this empowerment through the adoption of Agency by Design principles in the design, implementation, use, and updating of technologies. These principles can form the basis for best practices and international standards as part of a co-regulatory regime, in which technology firms engage more effectively with their diverse users during the design stages of a technology, work with them to produce transparent and intelligible systems for user safety based on granular, user-defined tools, allowing for collaborative identification by users of security threats, with meaningful responses and comprehensive life-cycle policies for maintaining system security. Using the case studies of intimate partner violence facilitated through smart home devices, the unauthorised use of data in Femtech applications, and the spread of disinformation on social media, this article argues that the adoption of these principles, working within a legal framework for ensuring compliance with international standards and best practices can more readily assure user agency and empowerment than existing approaches.