Ethical Issues in the Collection and Use of Consumer and Social Data

• Activity Number: 428
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 6, 2014 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Committee on Professional Ethics
• Author(s): Richard D. De Veaux*+
• Companies: Williams College
• Keywords: Big Data ; Privacy ; Confidentiality ; Data Mining

Abstract

The opportunities offered by Big Data to impact our social, political and economic lives are huge. The evangelists of big data promise to help us choose the right college, the right employee and even the right mate. Our precious natural resources might be used more efficiently if we could measure their use at the level of every individual. These data are collected not only by companies and governments, but by individuals themselves in an attempt to become more efficient, smarter and fitter. But with this massive data collection comes the possibility of unintended consequences. Do the benefits of personalization outweigh the invasion of privacy?

We will examine the landscape of issues dealing with the balance of privacy concerns with the benefits that big data promises. We survey the current state of government and business attitudes and policies relating to this question and attempt to provide a framework for the discussion of this important problem.