title: Biosecurity and Open-Source Biology: The Promise and Peril of Distributed Synthetic Biological Technologies.
abstract: In this article, we raise ethical concerns about the potential misuse of open-source biology (OSB): biological research and development that progresses through an organisational model of radical openness, deskilling, and innovation. We compare this organisational structure to that of the open-source software model, and detail salient ethical implications of this model. We demonstrate that OSB, in virtue of its commitment to openness, may be resistant to governance attempts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania, Suite 320, 3401 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA, neva9257@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nicholas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Selgelid
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information / Q000941:ethics*; D000066949:Biobehavioral Sciences; D000068601:Dual Use Research; D006801:Humans; D009938:Organizations; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D012984:Software; D058615:Synthetic Biology / Q000941:ethics*; D013672:Technology / Q000941:ethics*