Be aware of consumers' rights

March 15 is World Consumer Day, a day dedicated to the consumer movement. This is a day that concerns all human beings, whether children or adults, as all of us are consumers with equal consumer rights.

Although the first World Consumer Day was commemorated in the USA in 1962, it was first announced officially by the United Nations in 1985 with a bill of consumer rights, which included the right to satisfaction of basic needs.

Some of the other consumer rights the UN bestowed through this bill are the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to be heard, the right to consumer education, and the right to a healthy environment. In the market system, the consumer is king.

The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) in Sri Lanka handles the issues concerning consumers under the legislation Consumer Affairs Act No. 9 of 2003. It works towards safeguarding the rights of consumers who are at the mercy of traders and manufacturers.

Of course, for its functions to be fully effective, consumers should also play their part and make the CAA aware of unfair trading practices being carried out by various parties.

Consumers should also be aware of their rights and their role in ensuring that they get a fair deal. They must

* Purchase only goods that are fresh and new.

* Not purchase anything that is not up to the required standard.

* Not purchase any item that has exceeded the expiry date.

* Always check the price marked.

* Obtain a receipt for every item that you purchased or for any service rendered.

* Make sure that the goods purchased conform to the Sri Lanka Standards.

* Always check the date of manufacture and date of expiry when purchasing an item.

'Unethical Drug Promotion' is the World Consumer Day theme for this year.

Robots could get their own rights

By 2056, computers could be eligible (qualified) for pension and health benefits. The prospect of extending such rights traditionally reserved for humans to intelligent machines was raised in a British government-commissioned report.

Robo rights: Utopian Vision or Rise of the Machines? is one of 270 forward-looking papers sponsored by the government's chief scientist.

Examining the legal and ethical implications (effects) of society's increasing reliance on computers and robots, it concluded: "Currently, robots and machines are inanimate (lifeless) objects without rights or duties.

"If artificial intelligence is achieved and widely deployed, or if they can reproduce and improve themselves, calls may be made for human rights to be extended to robots.

"If so, this may be balanced with citizen responsibilities such as voting and paying tax".

Under British law, robots are classified as inanimate property without rights, duties or legal standing. The report argued that a monumental (great) shift could occur if robots continued to develop to the point where they could reproduce, improve themselves or gain artificial intelligence.

"This would open up complicated issues. Robot rights would invariably clash with their owners' property rights, and the extension of rights to robotic beings could be manipulated (handled) through programming and mechanical abilities at faster rates of reproduction than humans".

With technical and legal developments likely to occur at different speeds in different countries, the report raised the prospect of a "race to the bottom" in robotic working conditions. Owners of robots may decide to move them to jurisdictions (authorities) friendlier to property rights and less so to the rights of robots.

If granted full rights, states will be obliged to provide full social benefits to intelligent machines, including income support, housing and possibly health care.

The report provides further evidence that intelligent robots are steadily moving from the realms (areas) of science fiction into everyday reality. Recently, researchers at Cornell University in the United States unveiled a four-legged robot capable of sensing damage to its body and thinking of ways to repair it.

The prospect of legal entitlements (rights) for robots has so far caused more curiosity than horror among the public. But, at a recent meeting of the European Robotics Research Network in Genoa, Italy, it was argued that humans should seek to establish clear guidelines before super-intelligent machines grow beyond control.

"The question is what authority are we going to delegate to these machines?" said Professor Ronald Arkin, a robotics specialist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

"Are we going to give robots the ability to execute lethal force, or any force, like crowd control?"

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator movie character's nightmarish vision of a future dominated by violent humanoids could be closer than we think. But rather than "I'll be back", the catch-phrase may well be "I know my rights".

Artificial intelligence

While "intelligent" gadgets such as self-guiding vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers are widely available on the retail market, a range of increasingly sophisticated machines are being deployed by government departments.

The British National Health Service is currently testing a robotic surgeon capable of carrying out complex bladder, prostate and kidney operations. The military and security sector is the biggest driver of advances in artificial intelligence.

The need to conduct operations in volatile environments while minimising human casualties could see the US military deploy a robotic soldier within the next 20 years.

The Straits Times