Big Data Ethics Readings

This is a collection of documents, media stories, and links related to ethics and big data.

Books and Essays

• boyd, d. and K. Crawford (2012). "Critical Questions for Big Data." Information, Communication & Society 15(5): 662-679.

• CIPPIC. (2006). On the Data Trail: How Detailed Information About You Gets Into the Hands of Organizations With Whom You Have No Relationship. Ottawa, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC). <https://cippic.ca/sites/default/files/May1-06/DatabrokerReport.pdf>

• Davis, K. (2012). Ethics of Big Data. Sebastopol, CA, O'Reilly.

• Fuchs, C. (2013). Class and exploitation on the Internet. Digital Labor: The Internet as Playground and Factory. T. Scholz. New York, Routledge: 211-224. Preprint at <http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/CFdigitallabor.pdf>

• Greenwald, G. (2014). No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State, Signal.

• Human Rights Watch (2014). With Liberty to Monitor All: How Large-Scale US Surveillance is Harming Journalism, Law, and American Democracy. Report from Human Rights Watch. Go to Human Rights Watch and search for title.

• Kichin, R. (2014). The Data Revolution: Big Data, Open Data, Data Infrastructures and Their Consequences. Los Angeles, SAGE.

• Kramer, A. D. I., J. E. Guillory, et al. (2014). "Experimental Evidence of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks." Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111(24): 8788-8790.

• Manyika, J., M. Chui, et al. (2011). Big Data: The Next Frontier for Innovation, Competition, and Productivity. McKinsey Global Institute. <http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/big_data_the_next_frontier_for_innovation>

• Mayer-Schönberger, V. and K. Cukier (2013). Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• Morozov, Evgeny (2014). "What you whistle in the shower: How much for your data?" From Le Monde Diplomatique English Edition, August 2014. <https://www.mail-archive.com/nettime-l@mail.kein.org/msg02769.html>

• Podesta, J., P. Pritzker, et al. (2014). Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values. Washington. <www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/big_data_privacy_report_may_1_2014.pdf>

• Raley, R. (2013). "Dataveillance an Countervailance." "Raw Data" Is an Oxymoron. Ed. L. Gitelman, MIT Press. 121-146.

• Shapiro, R. B. and P. N. Ossorio (2013). "Regulation of Online Social Network Studies." Science 339. <http://raley.english.ucsb.edu/wp-content/DV-uncorrected-proofs.pdf>

• Sweeney, L. (2013). "Discrimination in Online Ads." Communications of the ACM 56(5): 44-54. <DOI 10.1145/2447976.2447990>

• Ware, W. H. et. al. (1973). Records, Computers and the Rights of Citizens: Report of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems, U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare. <http://epic.org/privacy/hew1973report/>

Media Stories

• Auerbach, D. (2014). Big Data Is Overrated. Slate. <http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/07/facebook_okcupid_user_experiments_ethics_aside_they_show_us_the_limitations.single.html>
• Barbaro, M. and T. J. Zeller (2006). A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749. New York Times. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&>
• Gellman, B. and G. Miller (2013). U.S. spy network's successes, failures and objectives detailed in 'black budget' summary. The Washington Post. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story_1.html> About the $52.6 billion budget for intelligence in the USA.
• Kehl, D. (2014). How the NSA Hurts Our Economy, Cybersecurity, and Foriegn Policy. Slate. <http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/07/31/usa_freedom_act_update_how_the_nsa_hurts_our_economy_cybersecurity_and_foreign.html> Summary of harm done by NSA and Snowden revelations.
• Noller, S. (2013). Why we need an algorithm ethic. The Guardian. <http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/jan/22/algorithm-ethic-mechanisms-control-security> Calls for "society-wide discussion on whether companies are truly respecting our rights to internet pseudonymity..."
• Ormerod, H. (2014). Mind the gap: Poll finds many Canadian businesses believe privacy is important but not taking basic steps to protect customer information. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. <http://blog.priv.gc.ca/index.php/2014/06/19/mind-the-gap-poll-finds-many-canadian-businesses-believe-privacy-is-important-but-not-taking-basic-steps-to-protect-customer-information/> Press release on a report commissioned by Privacy Commissioner. Report shows that many companies do not have a privacy policy, procedures, or designated employee.
• Waldman, K. (2014). Facebook's Unethical Experiment. Slate. <http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/06/facebook_unethical_experiment_it_made_news_feeds_happier_or_sadder_to_manipulate.html>

Links

• Data Privacy Lab. http://dataprivacylab.org/ Harvard lab that studies privacy and big data.
• theDataMap. http://thedatamap.org/ Documents how personal data flows in the health system in the US. Describes risks and buyers of information.
• WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principle for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html
• Privacert. <http://privacert.com/> Provides privacy risk assessments and certifications.
• OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/oecdguidelinesontheprotectionofprivacyandtransborderflowsofpersonaldata.htm
• Roger Carke's page on "Information Wants to be Free ..." http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/IWtbF.html
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. https://www.priv.gc.ca
• CSEC Olympia slides from Lux Ex Umbra Blog. http://luxexumbra.blogspot.ca/2013/10/csec-olympia-slides.html Gathers CSEC slides and links.