Answer to Question #263391 in Management for Khanyi

Question

1.What is data ethics?

2.why do we need to consider data ethics?

3. Name and explain principles of data ethics

Answer 1

1.What is data ethics?

Data ethics is a branch of ethics that evaluates data practices; collecting, generating, analyzing and disseminating data, both structured and unstructured that have the potential to adversely impact people and society. It includes addressing and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, with transparency in and defensibility of actions and decisions driven by artificial intelligence in relation to data in general and personal data in particular.

2.why do we need to consider data ethics?

Data ethics is important because there must be a universal framework for what companies can and cannot do with the data they collect from people. Private customer data and the identity of the person associated with that data needs to remain private and confidential. If data has been collected from a person with their knowledge that is OK, but it should never be exposed or given to other businesses that has their personal identity attached to the data in some way. Customers who give out their data should also have a complete, open, and transparent view of how the data is being used, if it is being sold for other purposes they initially intended, and they should be able to have control in the flow of their private information. It is also important to note that data should never interfere with human will. This data should never be used to determine who a person is before another person is able to make up their owns minds in regard to said person.

3. Name and explain principles of data ethics

• Ownership- An individual has ownership over their personal information. It’s unlawful and unethical to collect someone’s personal data without their consent. Some common ways one can obtain consent are through signed written agreements, digital privacy policies that ask users to agree to a company’s terms and conditions, and pop-ups with check-boxes that permit websites to track users’ online behavior with cookies. Never assume a customer is OK with having their data collected, always ask for permission to avoid ethical and legal dilemmas.
• Transparency- In addition to owning their personal information, data subjects have a right to know how a company plans to collect, store, and use it. When gathering data, exercise transparency. Withholding or lying about the company’s methods or intentions is deception and both unlawful and unfair to the data subjects.
• Privacy- Another ethical responsibility that comes with handling data is ensuring data subjects’ privacy. Even if a customer gives a company consent to collect, store, and analyze their personally identifiable information, that doesn’t mean they want it publicly available. To protect individuals’ privacy, the company should ensure it's storing data in a secure database so it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Data security methods that help protect privacy include dual-authentication password protection, file encryption etc.
• Intention- When discussing any branch of ethics, intentions matter. Before collecting data, people should ask themselves why they need it, what they’ll gain from it, and what changes they’ll be able to make after analysis. If the intention is to hurt others, profit from subjects’ weaknesses, or any other malicious goal, it’s not ethical to collect their data.
• Outcomes- Even when intentions are good, the outcome of data analysis can cause inadvertent harm to individuals or groups of people. This is referred as disparate impact, which is outlined in the Civil Rights Act as unlawful. One can’t know for certain the impact their data analysis will have until it’s complete. By considering this question beforehand, one can catch any potential occurrences of disparate impact.

Reference

Richards, N. M., & King, J. H. (2014). Big data ethics. Wake Forest L. Rev., 49, 393.