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Editorial: Device Owners and Administrators, fixes #309. (#327)
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Combines the two principles into one. Simplifies text; links to
Guardians.
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rhiaro authored Jul 12, 2023
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<div class="practice">
<span class="practicelab" id="principle-owned-devices-disclose-surveillance">
[=User agents=] must not help a device [=administrator=] surveil the people using the devices they
administrate without those people's knowledge.
[=User agents=] must not help a device [=administrator=] surveil the people
using the devices they administrate without those people's knowledge. [=User
agents=] should not tell a device [=administrator=] about user behavior except
when that disclosure is necessary to enforce reasonable constraints on use of
the device.
</span>
</div>

<div class="practice">
<span class="practicelab" id="principle-reasonable-disclosure-on-owned-devices">
[=User agents=] should only tell a device [=administrator=] about user behavior when that disclosure
is necessary to enforce reasonable constraints on use of the device.
</span>
<div class="note">
See [[[#guardians]]] for more detail on how this principle applies to vulnerable people with [=guardians=].
</div>

Computing devices have <dfn data-lt="device owner">owners</dfn>, who have
<dfn>administrator</dfn> access to the devices in order to install and
configure the programs that run on them. As a program running on a device,
a [=user agent=] generally can't tell whether the [=administrator=] who has
installed and configured it was authorized by the device's actual owner.

Computing devices have <dfn data-lt="device owner">owners</dfn>, and those owners have
<dfn>administrator</dfn> access to the devices in order to install and configure the programs,
including [=user agents=], that run on them. Sometimes, as in the cases of an employer providing a
device to an employee, a friend loaning a device to their visitor, or a parent providing a device to
their small child, the [=person=] using a device doesn't own the device or have [=administrator=]
access to it. Other times, as in the cases of intimate partners or one relative helping another
relative with their device, the owner and primary user of a device might not be the only person with
[=administrator=] access. As a program running on a device, a [=user agent=] generally can't tell
whether the [=administrator=] who has installed and configured it was authorized by the device's
actual owner.
Sometimes the [=person=] using a device doesn't own the device or have
[=administrator=] access to it (e.g. an employer providing a device to an
employee; a friend loaning a device to their guest; or a parent providing a
device to their young child). Other times, the owner and primary user of a
device might not be the only person with [=administrator=] access.

These relationships can involve power imbalances. A child may have difficulty accessing any
computing devices other than the ones their parent provides. A victim of abuse might not be able to
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While a [=device owner=] has an interest and sometimes a responsibility to make sure their device is
used in the ways they intended, the [=person=] _using_ the device still has a right to privacy while
using it. The above principles enforce this right to privacy in two ways:
using it. This principle enforces this right to privacy in two ways:

1. [=User agent=] developers need to consider whether requests from [=device owners=] and
[=administrators=] are reasonable, and refuse to implement unreasonable requests, even if that
means fewer sales. Owner/administrator needs must not simply trump user needs in the <a
means fewer sales. Owner/administrator needs do not supersede user needs in the <a
data-cite="design-principles#priority-of-constituencies">priority of constituencies</a>.
1. Even when information disclosure is reasonable, the [=person=] whose data is being disclosed
needs to know about it so that they can avoid doing things that would lead to unwanted
consequences.

Some [=administrator=] requests might be reasonable for some sorts of users, like employees or
especially children, but not be reasonable for other sorts, like friends or intimate partners. In
those cases, the [=user agent=] can explain what the administrator is going to learn in a way that
also says what sort of user is expected to agree. Users in other classes can then react
appropriately.
children, but not be reasonable for other sorts, like friends or intimate partners.
The [=user agent=] should explain what the [=administrator=] is going to learn in a way that
helps different users to react appropriately.

<aside class="issue">
Link this to [[[#guardians]]].
</aside>

## Harassment

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