Professor researching ethical tech human rights. Host of the "Technically Human" Podcast, founder of the Ethical Tech Initiative @ Cal Poly
Joined March 2009
- Tweets 2,671
- Following 400
- Followers 346
- Likes 5,004
Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
9 Sep 2021
My hope is that the next decade of tech questions won’t be technological—they’ll be ethical. We already know what we CAN do. Now we need to decide what we SHOULD do. Those are humanistic questions, about how to get tech to better reflect human values
8
6
88
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
Jun 3
The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) online portal platform is reportedly down for some users right now. Are you one of them? #UKETA #GovUK community.designtaxi.com/top…
2
1
6
2,337
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
Jun 3
🚨 Travel News Update: The UK ETA app is experiencing technical issues with a "system is busy" error, causing application delays for upcoming flights.
Here's what you need to know now for travel to the UK:
ivisa.com/news/2026-06-03-gb…
1
2
755
UK Electronic Travel Authorization System Down Traps U.S. and EU Travelers — An electronic travel authorization system outage is preventing U.S., Canada and most European travelers from boarding planes, trains and boats bound for the U.K. Officials say passengers are being turned away as the system remains unavailable, snarling cross-border travel plans.
1
1
101
Jun 3
The UK government made ETA mandatory, then their system went down for days stranding thousands of travelers worldwide. No fallback. No human override. No timeline for resolution. I research this kind of government tech failure. Tonight I lived it @ukhomeoffice @UKVIgovuk @BBCNews
6
5
21
2,547
Jun 3
When the ETA system failed, affected travelers didn't know:
• who built it
• who operates it
• who is responsible
• who can override it
• who can explain what's happening
Everyone points somewhere else in the chain. Accountability becomes diffuse when it is needed most
2
1
3
285
Jun 3
People miss flights every day. That’s not the story.
The story is what happens when governments make digital systems mandatory and those systems fail. What obligations do public institutions have to the people affected? What transparency should citizens expect?
1
2
240
Jun 3
4/5
What’s striking is that this infrastructure appears to lack many of the features we expect from other critical digital services.
Cloud providers, banks, airlines, and major SaaS platforms maintain public status pages, incident communications, and outage reporting mechanisms
59
Jun 3
1/5
The accountability chain question is what makes AI systems fundamentally unstable as infrastructure. Who built this? Who can fix it?
UK Office → procurement contract → vendor→ software system → traveler.
When the system fails responsibility is impossible to locate
2
1
1
276
Jun 3
3/5
The ETA system is now critical mobility infrastructure.
Without an approved ETA, airlines won't board passengers. Flights missed. Conferences missed. Business travel disrupted. Family events missed.
A digital system now sits directly between people and their ability to move
1
218
Jun 3
This is not an isolated case. Thousands of travelers are affected. Reddit threads with hundreds of comments. Families stranded. Flights missed. And the official response? ‘Wait up to 3 working days.’ There is no exception process. No emergency override. No public communication
1
4
352
Jun 3
When governments make digital systems mandatory, they take on an obligation to maintain them, and to have fallbacks when they fail. Who is accountable here? What recourse do affected travelers have?
5
329
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
10 Aug 2025
Because of what Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, which applies to most tech entrepreneurs:
"You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it, slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you’re selling it… you didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it."
Speed without stewardship yields dystopia.
2
4
20
6,276
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
23 Apr 2025
I don’t even know what to say about today.
I just saw an ambulance 18 people were hiding in on October 7th that Hamas blew up with grenades.
I talked to the survivor of Nova Festival About how he thought he was dead for the whole month afterwards because he couldn’t understand how he lived.
I saw a fence that Palestinian civilians tore down to rape women on a farm full of the biggest Israeli peace advocates.
I don’t even feel anything political right now. Just immense sadness.
There’s so much grief baked into being a Jew.
238
587
5,046
122,066
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
14 Mar 2025
Episode 31 of Confessions of a CyberPsychologist with Professor Deb Donig (@debsta4) is now live.
Watch the full episode here: bit.ly/Ep31Deb
#ConfessionsOfACyberPsychologist #CyberPsychology #Cybercology
2
1
192
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
3 Dec 2024
Academics will be like "finished is better than perfect" and then not finish
13
372
3,272
100,745
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
1 Dec 2024
Antisemitic misogyny barely registers as bias in a progressive culture otherwise attuned to identity-based offense.
Great piece in the NYT by @nataliapetrzela
19
82
373
38,771
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
1 Dec 2024
Still truer than ever
456
1,754
12,724
1,381,267
Dr. Deb Donig retweeted
30 Nov 2024
I just turned 45.
If you're in your 30's, read this:
316
3,967
31,948
7,396,942