Open Ethics Transparency Protocol

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The Open Ethics Transparency Protocol (OETP or Protocol) describes the creation and exchange of voluntary ethics Disclosures for IT products. It is brought as a solution to increase the transparency of how IT products are built and deployed. This document provides details on how disclosures for data collection and data processing practice are formed, stored, validated, and exchanged in a standardized and open format.¶

OETP provides facilities for:¶

• Informed consumer choices : End-users able to make informed choices based on their own ethical preferences and product disclosure.¶

• Industrial-scale monitoring : Discovery of best and worst practices within market verticals, technology stacks, and product value offerings.¶

• Legally-agnostic guidelines : Suggestions for developers and product-owners, formulated in factual language, which are legally-agnostic and could be easily transformed into product requirements and safeguards.¶

• Iterative improvement : Digital products, specifically, the ones powered by artificial intelligence could receive nearly real-time feedback on how their performance and ethical posture could be improved to cover security, privacy, diversity, fairness, power balance, non-discrimination, and other requirements.¶

• Labeling and certification : Mapping to existing and future regulatory initiatives and standards.¶

The Open Ethics Transparency Protocol (OETP) is an application-level protocol for publishing and accessing ethical Disclosures of IT products and their components. The Protocol is based on HTTP exchange of information about the ethical "postures", provided in an open and standardized format. The scope of the Protocol covers Disclosures for systems such as Software as a Service (SaaS) Applications, Software Applications, Software Components, Application Programming Interfaces (API), Automated Decision-Making (ADM) systems, and systems using Artificial Intelligence (AI). OETP aims to bring more transparent, predictable, and safe environments for the end-users. The OETP Disclosure Format is an extensible JSON-based format.¶

2. Requirement Levels

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶

3. Terminology

Disclosure:

Disclosure (Ethics Disclosure, or self-disclosure) is application-specific information about the data collection, data processing, and decision-making practices of a Product, provided by the Product Vendor (an individual developer or an organization).¶

Disclosure Feed:

A historical sequence of Disclosures, made for a specific Product.¶

Disclosure Identity Provider:

The automated Disclosure processing is enabled by requests to both the Open Ethics Disclosure database powered by Disclosure Identity Providers (DIP) and the Product's OETP Disclosure file, stored in the product's website root following OETP specification. DIP serves as a service point to generate and retrieve generated disclosures.¶

Vendor:

A legal person (an individual developer or an organization) that owns one or several end-user Products, or acts as a Supplier and provides Components for other Vendors.¶

Integrator:

A legal person (an individual developer or an organization) that deploys technology-powered services to the end-users based on Product(s) from third-party Vendors.¶

Product:

An IT system in the form of software, software as a service system, application, software component, application programming interface, or a physically embodied automated decision-making agent.¶

Component:

An IT system supplied by Vendor and integrated/embedded into end-user Products. Components themselves do not necessarily interface with end-users.¶

Upstream Component:

A Component that sends its outputs to the Product Downstream in the data processing chain. Disclosure for the Upstream Component is represented as a Child relative to the Disclosure node of the Downstream Product.¶

Downstream Component:

A Component that receives inputs from the Components Upstream in the data processing chain. Disclosure for the Downstream Component is represented as a Parent relative to the Disclosure node of the Upstream Component.¶

Automated Decision-Making (ADM):

Automated decision-making is the process of making a decision by automated means without any human involvement. These decisions can be based on factual data, as well as on digitally created profiles or inferred data.¶

OETP Disclosure Format:

A machine-readable Disclosure with predefined structure, supplied in the JSON format.¶

Validation:

A sequence of automated software-based checks to control validity and security elements in the OETP Disclosure.¶

Auditor:

A third-party legal person trusted to perform Verification checks and to issue Verification Proofs.¶

Auditing software:

An automated software-based tool authorized to perform Verification checks and to issue Verification Proofs.¶

Verification:

A procedure to control the correspondence of the elements in the OETP Disclosure and the actual data processing and data collection practices of the Vendors.¶

Verification Proof:

A result of the formal Disclosure Verification procedure presented to a requestor.¶

Chaining:

A process of combining Disclosures of individual Components into a composite high-level Disclosure for a Product.¶

Label:

User-facing graphical illustrations and textual descriptions of the Product that facilitate understanding of the values and risks the Product carries.¶

4. Protocol Model

The Disclosure creation and delivery consist of the two parts, starting from (I) the submission of the Disclosure form, chaining of the Suppliers' Disclosures, Signature of the disclosed information, and the delivery part (II) that first checks that the Disclosure is Valid, and then that the information specified in it is Verified by the third-parties. Figure 4 shows disclosure creation steps.¶

<!-- Open Ethics Label snippet: visible content -->
<a href="https://openethics.ai/label" target="_blank">
    <div id="label" aria-label="Open Ethics Label">
        <img src="/src/images/Open Ethics logo.svg" class="oesign svg" height="30" alt="Open Ethics Logo" role="img" aria-hidden="true">
        <!-- Dynamic Content of the Open Ethics Label goes here -->
    </div>
</a>

<svg width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-labelledby="iconOpenSourceCodeTitle iconOpenSourceCodeDescription">
<title id="iconOpenSourceCodeTitle">Algorithms and code libraries: Open Source Code</title>
<desc id="iconOpenSourceCodeDescription">This product/component has disclosed that it mainly uses the Open Source Code as a part of its codebase.</desc>
<circle cx="8" cy="8" r="7" fill="#FFFFFF" class="branding-accent" />
<path d="M10.56 4.83221C9.70667 4.08053 8.64 3.75839 7.46667 3.97315C5.44 4.18792 3.84 6.01342 3.84 8.16107V8.26845C3.84 8.37584 3.84 8.48322 3.84 8.5906C3.94666 9.98658 4.8 11.1678 6.08 11.9195C6.4 11.1678 6.61333 10.5235 6.82667 9.87919C6.18667 9.44966 5.86667 8.80537 5.86667 8.05369C5.86667 7.51678 6.08 7.08725 6.4 6.7651C7.14667 6.01342 8.21333 5.79866 9.06667 6.33557C9.81333 6.7651 10.1333 7.51678 10.1333 8.37584C10.0267 9.02013 9.70667 9.55704 9.17333 9.87919C9.38667 10.5235 9.70667 11.1678 9.92 11.9195C10.4533 11.5973 10.9867 11.1678 11.4133 10.6309C12.0533 9.77181 12.2667 8.69798 12.16 7.62416C12.0533 6.55033 11.52 5.47651 10.56 4.83221Z" fill="#333333" class="branding-main" />
<path d="M8 0C3.62667 0 0 3.54362 0 7.94631C0 12.349 3.62667 16 8 16C12.3733 16 16 12.4564 16 7.94631C16 3.43624 12.3733 0 8 0ZM9.92 12.8859C9.81333 12.8859 9.70667 12.9933 9.49333 12.8859C9.38667 12.8859 9.28 12.7785 9.17333 12.5638L8.10667 9.77181C8.10667 9.55705 8.21333 9.34228 8.42667 9.2349C8.85333 9.02013 9.06667 8.80537 9.17333 8.37584C9.17333 8.05369 9.17333 7.73154 8.96 7.51678C8.74667 7.19463 8.42667 6.97987 8.10667 6.97987C7.46667 6.97987 6.93333 7.30201 6.93333 7.94631C6.82667 8.48322 7.04 8.91275 7.57333 9.2349C7.89333 9.34228 8 9.55705 7.89333 9.87919L6.82667 12.6711C6.72 12.8859 6.61333 12.8859 6.61333 12.9933C6.61333 12.9933 6.50667 12.9933 6.4 12.9933C6.29333 12.9933 6.29333 12.9933 6.18667 12.9933C5.01333 12.5638 4.05333 11.7047 3.52 10.5235C2.98667 9.55705 2.88 8.80537 2.88 8.37584V8.26846C2.88 5.58389 4.8 3.43624 7.36 3.11409C10.1333 2.68456 12.5867 4.61745 13.12 7.30201C13.5467 9.66443 12.2667 12.0268 9.92 12.8859Z" fill="#333333" class="branding-main" />
</svg>

5. Example OETP Disclosure File

{
    "schema": {
        "name": "Open Ethics Transparency Protocol",
        "version": "0.9.3 RFC",
        "integrity": "156d624b8f2dbea87128a2147f255842652475c5dc595c79f64c90c7ff486d59007c3e18c993e3163395812e26b70ea70dfc413f7ca128869d115f12e5699bf2"
    },
    "snapshot": {
        "product": {
            "url": "testexample.com",
            "description": ""
        },
        "timestamp": 1608273946,
        "generator": {
            "name": "Open Ethics",
            "alias": "oe",
            "type": "root",
            "website": "https://openethics.ai"
        },
        "label": {
            "data": {
                "type": "open",
                "practice": ""
            },
            "source": {
                "type": "open",
                "practice": ""
            },
            "decision": {
                "type": "restricted",
                "practice": ""
            }
        }
    }
}

6. Security Considerations

7. IANA Considerations

Disclosures MAY be resolved using their URIs. To allow this requirement, the oetp:// URI scheme should be registered with IANA.¶

8. Areas for Future Study

The following topics not addressed in this version of the document are possible areas for the future study:¶

• Extensibility of the OETP Disclosure Format.¶

• Evaluate other methods of Generation of the Composite Disclosure based on the Disclosure Tree¶

• Disclosure Chaining mechanisms and various use-cases.¶

• Typical scenarios and templates for Disclosure submissions.¶

• Mapping of the regulatory requirements and future Disclosure elements.¶

• Standardizing Privacy Disclosure and PII data-collection practices.¶

• Enhancing Label accessibility with ARIA W3C Recommendation and other approaches.¶

• Use of the OETP Disclosure in the ADM explainability (XAI).¶

• Disclosure formats for families of "Generative AI" technologies such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), Conditional Variational Autoencoders (CVAEs), Attention Mechanisms, Transformer-based Models.¶

Appendix A. Appendix

@startuml

title Disclosure Creation Process

skinparam roundCorner 15

actor "Supplier A" as SA
actor "Supplier B" as SB
actor Vendor as V

component "Component A" as CA
component "Component B" as CB
file "Disclosure A" as DA
file "Disclosure B" as DB
file "Composite Disclosure" as D

V-right->(Creation):disclose
SA-up->CA
SB-up->CB
CA-up->DA
CB-up->DB
DA-up->(Chaining)
DB-up->(Chaining)
(Creation)->(Chaining)
(Chaining)->(Validation)
(Validation)->(Verification)
(Verification)->D
@enduml

@startuml
title Basic Disclosure Submission

skinparam roundCorner 15
autonumber

actor Vendor
database "Disclosure Identity Provider" as ID
control "Signature Generator" as SIG
database "Federated Identity Provider" as DIS

Vendor -> ID: Request with Disclosure payload
ID -> ID: Validate input
ID -> SIG: Structured Data, Initialized

ID <-- SIG: SHA3-512 integrity hash
    group Distributed Identity Storage
DIS <-- SIG: SHA3-512 integrity hash
end
ID -> ID: Log OETP file and a corresponding intgrity hash
Vendor <-- ID: OETP Disclosure File
@enduml

@startuml

title Progressive Verification with multiple Auditors

skinparam roundCorner 15
autonumber
actor User
User -> Vendor: Disclosure Request
User <-- Vendor: OETP Disclosure File

database "Disclosure Identity Provider" as ID

User -> ID: Disclosure Validation and Verification Request

group Progressive Disclosure Verification
    ID -> ID: Retrieve and Compare Disclosure Integrity
    ID -> "Auditor 1": Disclosure Verification Request
    ID <-- "Auditor 1": Verification Proof 1
    ID -> "Auditor N": Disclosure Verification Request
    ID <-- "Auditor N": Verification Proof N
end

User <-- ID: Verification response

User -> Vendor: Service Request
User <-- Vendor: Service Response
@enduml

@startuml
title Disclosure Chaining: Request-Response


start
repeat
  :Request Component's Disclosure;
    if (Disclosure Obtained?) then (yes)
      :Validate Disclosure;
      :Verify Disclosure;
      :Chain Disclosure;
      :Obtain list of Child Components;
      if (Supplier information exists?) then (yes)
        :Update Tree with (yet)
        Unchained Disclosures;
      else (no)
        #Gold:**Alert** "Vendor has not provided
        Supplier information";
      endif
    else (no)
      #pink:**Alert** "Vendor has not provided
      any Disclosure";
      stop
    endif
repeat while (Unchained Disclosures in the Disclosure Tree?) is (yes) not (no)
:**Generate**
Composite Disclosure;
#palegreen:**Display** Label for "Composite Disclosure";
stop

@enduml

@startmindmap
title Disclosure Chaining: Level Order Traversal

skinparam roundCorner 15
* Root (Product)
        * 1 (Component)
                * 3 (Component)
                        * 7 (Component)
                * 4 (Component)
        * 2 (Component)
                * 5 (Component)
                        * 8 (Component)
                        * 9 (Component)
                * 6 (Component)
@endmindmap

Acknowledgments

Part of this work related to Verification and Validation of Disclosure and Disclosure Chaining was supported by the H2020 Programme of the European Commission under Article 15 of Grant Agreement No. 951972 StandICT.eu 2023¶

The Open Ethics community and expert volunteers contributed with their valuable feedback, discussions, and comments. Thank you Ashley Duque Kienzle, Angela Kim, Ioannis Zempekakis, Karl Müdespacher, Ida Varošanec, Claudia Del Pozo, Joerg Buss, Mariia Kriuchok, Minhaaj Rehman, Oleksii Molchanovskyi, Roberta Barone, Phil Volkofsky and others.¶

Author's Address