Yep, deliberately trying to provoke you with the headline. Here's what provoked me:
The news that two airplane crashes killed a total of 346 people, in part due to a software upgrade that was "optional." (read: cost more)
This story about electronic health records (software) and deaths that ensued from resultant poor medical care.
What does this have to do with philanthropy and civil society?
Philanthropic and civil society organizations are as dependent on software as are businesses and governments. Do you know how your software works? What its vulnerabilities are?
Your work may not involve the difference between life and death, but if you're collecting information on lots of people and not respecting their rights in collecting it, not protecting it once you have it, or managing it (and the software you use to hold and analyze it) in line with your mission, how much good are you really doing? Are you making the people your organization serves, or the nonprofits you fund, more vulnerable with your data practices even as you try to do good with your dollars?
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