Ethical Framework

Ethics

Beliefs that we as an organization deeply hold, and base our work around.

  1. People should have access to help without worrying about how accepting that help will negatively impact their lives. They also shouldn’t be forced to pay for help that they would die without. Barriers and issues of all kind pop-up and create circumstances that prohibit people from paying for, reaching, and receiving quality care. There should be options to get someone quality help, no matter the barriers they face.

  2. Companies shouldn’t manipulate people’s situations, ideas, or lives without their knowledge or consent in order to make more money. People have a right to privacy within reason, and companies need to respect that. If customer’s privacy or the data they create is being used or manipulated, they need to understand, consent, and actively be aware of it.

  3. Companies need to balance people and profit, and throughly understand the consequences of their actions within the intersections of the communities they serve. They also need to understand how their products could amplify existing issues, and be proactive to predict and treat these problems before they become crises.

  4. People inherently have value. All people deserve to be treated with respect and love, even if their actions don’t warrant it. People have lives, families, stories, and experiences that we can never comprehend. We don’t have to understand (or like them), but everyone deserves to get to the future they’re meant to have. We’ll do everything we can to get them there.

Values

Things we prioritize based off of our ethics.

  1. Although not every option needs to be free, we need to create quality options for care that can be provided for everyone, no matter the barriers in their life.

  2. We need to directly work with communities and have a deep understanding of systemic pipelines and issues. We also need to prioritize the most vulnerable to make sure we protect them, and avoid inadvertently causing and amplifying existing issues.

  3. We need to make sure the people we serve understand how and why we use their data, and not manipulate people’s ignorance about tech. Our users shouldn’t be manipulated or deceived when providing consent, and should have the right to revoke consent and have their data deleted.

  4. Our users need to be treated as people instead of customers to profit off of. We need to value their experience, treat them with care, and understand how our products affect their everyday lives. We need to make sure they leave with an overall positive experience, and not prioritize short-term profits over someone’s fundamental right to privacy and safety.

Standards

Rules that we hold ourselves to, to stay in line with our values and ethics.

  1. No advertising in our apps

  2. Build with the communities we serve, not for them.

  3. No cost for our apps to the end user who needs them.

  4. No “dark“ or unethical design patterns

  5. No harvesting data, and selling it to marketers.

  6. Create tech only for niche areas underserved by tech.

  7. Use our resources only according to our values

Astra Labs