Transcript Lecture 15 - Computer Science

Ethical Issues in Computer
Science
CSCI 328, Fall 2013
Session 15
Privacy as a Value
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Privacy as a Social Good
Privacy as an Individual Good doesn't influence policy.
Utilitarian arguments: Social goods trump individual goods.
Example?
Privacy as a Social Good provides more balance with other social
goods such as security.
How can we frame privacy as a social good?
2
Privacy and Democracy
Privacy is essential to Democracy because:
People under constant surveillance change their behavior.
Examples:
1. Bentham's Panopticon
2. IT Society. How are we watched?
Benefits of surveillance?
Drawbacks of surveillance?
3
Privacy is Essential to
Democracy
In a democracy, citizens:
• must be free to exercise autonomy.
• must be able to think critically.
• must argue about issues and learn from argument.
If it's too risky to argue for something new or challenge authority,
democracy will not work.
Johnson's view:
Privacy, autonomy and democracy are so intertwined that you cannot
have one without the other.
4
Data Mining
Problems with data mining:
• The norms by which the data are gathered and used are often
not subject to public discussion.
• The norms may be invisible to those being watched.
• People tracking the data may not know why some people are
singled out by the data mining program and others are not.
• Information gathered for one purpose may be merged with
other data and mined for patterns people may not have realized
they were revealing.
• People are placed in categories based on data mining results.
What is wrong with this?
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Fair Information Practices
How do we as a society protect privacy?
Adopt, either through legislation or self-regulation, fair information
practices.
1. There must be no personal data record-keeping whose existence is
secret.
2. There must be a way for an individual to find out what information
about him or her is recorded and how it is used.
3. There must be a way to prevent information that was obtained for
one purpose from being used for another purpose without consent.
4. There must be a way to correct information.
5. Organizations must assure the reliability of the data and take
precautions against the misuse of data.
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Other Safeguards
Transparency:
Information practices should be made clear to users.
(Example of how not to do this--Citizens Bank Privacy
statement).
Opt-in vs. Opt-out
It's better if people are given a choice to opt-in to a policy, rather
than having the policy implemented and forcing people to
opt-out.
Example: Facebook, Beacon
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Responsibilities of Computer
Professionals
As computer professionals, we will understand the systems and tools
used for data collection and distribution. Therefore it is our
responsibility to:
1. Design systems with security and reliability of databases of
personal information in mind.
2. Inform clients or employers about privacy issues.
3. Participate in public policy discussions.
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ACM Code of Professional
Conduct
The ACM (Association for computing machinery)
1973: An ACM member, whenever dealing with data concerning
individuals, shall always consider the principle of the individual's
privacy and seek to:
• Minimize the data collected
• Limit authorized access to the data
• Provide proper security for the data
• Determine the required retention period of the data
• Ensure proper disposal of the data
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ACM Code of Professional
Conduct--Updated
1992 Update: An ACM member will "respect the privacy of others."
"It is the responsibility of professionals to maintain the privacy and
integrity of data describing individuals. This includes taking
precautions to ensure the accuracy of data, as well as
protecting it from unauthorized access or accidental disclosure
to inappropriate individuals."
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