Together with old friends and new members, we’re all concerned with overall ethics in retail and technology.
With these central questions in mind, the Ethical Commerce Alliance (ECA) was created in early 2022 as a human-centred industry network with Empathy.co as the founding partner. A network that strives to enable businesses to act responsibly and ultimately to end the damaging surveillance economy.
The alliance combines the expertise of founders, retail leaders, and industry specialists with external advisors from academia and non-profit organisations in order to deliver different perspectives based on a common consciousness. The aim is to create a comprehensive picture and build an ethical and sustainable understanding of privacy and data protection.
Search and recommendation algorithms, digital assistants, maps and navigation, or facial recognition are just the tip of the iceberg of a long list of AI applications that accompany us in our daily online activities, even without noticing it.
But what happens to our privacy and security when we interact with AI applications? How can we give consent about the use of our personal data and how can we, as businesses, provide an environment that caters for it?
From this ethical breeding ground, Empathy.co, a company devoted to creating search and discovery experiences for ecommerce, started to explore their responsibility beyond the company boundaries. Based on the values of trust, understanding, and joy,
We set ethical values atop every retail agenda because we believe ethical values are not a luxury but a necessity to sustain a healthy, thriving economy and society.
So, we need to guide the retail industry towards adopting more respectful technology by putting customers and their digital rights at the centre.
