Identifying ethical issues during the development of a computer vision based AmI system: A case study.

AmI applications are normally embedded in a user’s environment and everyday objects. As much, as such applications might add value to our everyday life, there are also ethical concerns that need to be considered particularly in the early stages of AmI application’s design and development. Considering ethical issues at such an early stage of development may help to avoid and perhaps even eliminate potential problems once an application is ready for its target audience. This paper examines a case study of the development of an AmI application. The application under development is computer vision based system for person tracking and occupancy and fall detection with a long term goal of building a system with an automated mobility assessment capability. This application is used as a basis to discuss potential ethical concerns within the technical development process.