Why should you care about data ethics?
We have become accustomed to accessing all kinds of data and information right at our fingertips in this digital age. But as a consumer, how informed are you about how your data is accessed and used to help online businesses?
There is a colossal amount of data generated so much more today than it has ever been developed in the past couple of years. In today’s internet age, most have widely known the expression as ‘the New Oil.’ Clive Humby, the person who coined the expression, explained ‘the New Oil’ in a symbolic manner, in which he suggested that data in its rawest form is useless. However, once it is refined into materials, then it is considered — precious. The insights we gain from analysing data have transformed and empowered all economic sectors to understand better how the world works and shape society through better innovation and personalisation.
However, with technology advancing quicker these days with intelligent algorithms, smart devices, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), data ethics play an important role in questioning -” To what extent does the current data protection put in place, are protecting people’s privacy?”. Such concerns align with the many risks and security threats to our privacy we continue to see today.
- OWNERSHIP
Your personal information can be of high value to yourself for personal use and tracking. However, your personal information becomes much more valuable for online businesses. Your online engagement leaves a digital trail as every aspect of your life and habits are virtually documented through every swipe and click. So it is crucial to protect your data, especially unimportant data, not to be paranoid, but to be more practical and realistic about our security. Even the most mundane routines and habits can reveal insight and predictions about how you behave, act, and the way you live, which helps businesses curate targeted advertisements, products, and services you see in real-time. Unfortunately, sometimes these algorithms are subject to unintentional biases and distortions.
2. TRANSPARENCY
Companies rely on targeted advertising to help find their audience, and they tend to generate most of their income by leveraging consumer data. However, Data Analytics studies show concerns about the emerging risks of businesses not following ethical data handling practices. Data is obtained in a couple of ways. For instance, we create it; we buy it, it is openly available, it may be officially published or stolen and made available. Companies are obligated to offer complete transparency in their process of receiving consent. They should also inform such information clearly in plain language. For example, what information is being disclosed and used, how it is being used, and how long it is being stored. Especially when third parties are involved since many have been exposed for still quietly selling our data. Public trust and fairness should be built on data transparency and honesty. However, it is important to note whether transparency and honesty alone may be sufficient to protect our privacy?
3. PRIVACY
After acquiring proper consent, businesses of all sizes should be safeguarding consumer data to prevent the risks of security threats such as data breaches and dissemination. However, all companies are infallible to data breaches as they can happen accidentally or intentionally. For example, in 2016, Uber was hacked by two people and about 57 million users’ personal information such as individuals’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, and driver’s licenses. The private identification information listed above were a few of those that were compromised. However, instead of disclosing the breach to regulators and consumers — they paid the hackers to delete the data and cover up the incident. In other words, they waited for over a year to finally acknowledge the incident and resulted in them paying a $148 million fine.
How do we trust companies with our data if they conceal and wipe any evidence of data leaks? Another example is LinkedIn, which in this year alone has had two data breaches that caused the dissemination of 700 million LinkedIn users records being sold on the dark web forum. LinkedIn had denied it being “a security breach” and that “no private LinkedIn member data was exposed.” Still, when RestorePrivacy analysed the sample of the data of 1 million LinkedIn users, it contained personal contact information, physical addresses, geolocation records, personal and professional backgrounds, to name a few. After intensive scrutiny and cross-checking, the data was authentic, up to date, and tied to real people. LinkedIn’s dismissive response has been unsurprisingly distressing for the many individuals involved, especially when these implicated users became victims of targeted phishing attacks, spam, and potential identity theft.
4. INTENTION
Although there are traditional ethical theories (Virtue Ethics, Social Contract, Kantian Ethics, and Utilitarianism) In the code of ethics that were made explicitly for data handling practices, used in combination with Data Protection Laws still prove to be useless as breaches continue to happen so commonly. Simply encouraging data handlers to have integrity, choose between right and wrong, and what they ought to do out of moral obligations won’t stop them from exploiting consumer data for personal or financial gain.
While many countries have their own data regulations in place, they’re not as effective as they could be. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) helps indicate the principles and guidelines of how businesses should process data openly and transparently. Still, it doesn’t necessarily address ethics in the grey areas. Therefore, Data Ethics should call for regulatory bodies that govern data privacy laws to be reviewed under scrutiny, updated, and act to hold companies accountable consistently.
Essentially, it has been proven that companies don’t care about our privacy and continue to take advantage of people’s ignorance. Maybe the only way to eliminate data risks is never to use the internet. So, why should you care about data ethics? Simply because you should also care about your privacy.
