How to put human values into voice assistants and to make the digital infrastructure more human centric. Those were two of more topics at the German DLD conference – first time in Brussels – in September. Do watch the videos. … Read More
A study from University of Zürich looks at how the insurance companies use data to assess, select, price, predict and prevent risks. Big Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence are used in areas such as telematics in car insurance, fraud detection, … Read More
By Gry Hasselbalch and Sille Obelitz Søe How can we trust AI? This is one of the most pressing questions we are facing at the moment with the rapid speed in development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning algorithms. … Read More
The British data protection watchdog ICO is investigating how personal data is used in digital ads. It does not look good. In an interim report, the ad tech industry is blamed for not protecting our data sufficiently in the real … Read More
Fierce competition, ethics and regulations. Such are the answers from Europe and part of the US in a discussion at the Brussels Forum by the German Marshall Fund about how to safeguard our democracies. The packed agenda ended with a … Read More
Summary of Research Article: Data ethics is gaining momentum. Citizens are starting to act on their lack of control over their data, legislation is adapting, and alternative business models and technologies are emerging. But what shape is our ethical awareness … Read More
Mozilla Internet Health Report 2019 This year’s annual report from Mozilla focuses on three issues, AI, digital advertising and cities, not smart cities, but how city governments and civil society can work togeter to make the internet healthier. Mozilla writes: … Read More
News. Facial recognition is a critical technology for us to debate before we deploy it all over to catch criminals, make a profit on selling the technology or using it to reduce headcount by replacing humans. San Francisco just banned … Read More
News. Human Rights Watch (HRW) got access to an app, “Integrated Joint Operations Platform” (IJOP), which they say the Chinese authority in the western Xinjiang region uses to surveil and categorise the local population. By ‘reverse engineering’ HRW was able … Read More
Event. The fourth European Data Ethics Forum will be Thursday October 10th in Copenhagen at CFL. We (DataEthics.eu and our cool partner Danish IT) already have a bunch of truely interesting speakers such as UN Global Pulse, who has 75 … Read More
From our own world. Three exciting events coming up this spring. And mark you calendars for October 10th where the 4th European Data Ethics Forum will take place in Copenhagen. Our thinkdotank participates in many international meetings giving expert advice … Read More
Study. At least 13 jurisdictions in the US are currently using predictive policing systems or have previously been engaged in predictive policing pilots. An examination of the implications of using dirty data with predictive policing shows an elevated risks of … Read More
Blog. Are we seeing a Europe working towards prohibiting the fundamental surveillance business model of Facebook, Google and the ad tech industry? So, it seems from a recent German antitrust decision and a EU comment. In February the German antitrust … Read More
Today the spaces we move in are extended by digital infrastructures that tracks us by default. Surveillance has become ordinary. Conducted by not only state actors, but also commercial actors and embedded in the digital and physical architecture and atmospheres … Read More
News. For years the US has been investigating the data broker industry. Now Europe are taking a closer look into their activities. For years, data brokers have operated in the shadows, but with GDPR and a shift in public opinion … Read More
Report. Go beyond GDPR and ban sending personally identifiable data out to advertising networks. Such are the recommendation from the British New Economics Foundation, who is working to transform the economy to work for people and the planet, in its … Read More
The High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, which was appointed by the European Commission this summer has released the first draft of its Ethics Guidelines for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). In this document, the independent group of 52 experts, … Read More
Artificial intelligence, AI, is a popular topic. A future scenario, in which everything and everyone are connected via intelligent machines and networks that constantly exchange data which decides our options and defines and guides us, is no longer science fiction; … Read More
News. The era of data ethics is upon us—and only those with the highest standards will win over global customers, says an article in SAP’s magasine The D!gitalist who is also listing new models for data management once consumers and … Read More
News. Privacy International has filed complaints against 7 data brokers (Acxiom, Oracle), ad-tech companies (Criteo, Quantcast, Tapad), and credit referencing agencies (Equifax, Experian) with data protection authorities in France, Ireland, and the UK. It is a huge, well-research set of complaints that … Read More
Research. New study casts doubt on the ability of new technology to target effectively. Many people believe that we are all being micro-targetted with manipulative ads and messages from politicians. But an Australian study proves different. Personalised advertising may be … Read More
Paper. The rise of the ethical technology debate runs in parallel to the increasing resistance to any regulation at all. Assistant professor Ben Wagner is worried that the focus on ethics can be used as a way of getting around … Read More
EVENT. DPO Julia Sommer has done some great drawings from European DataEthics Forum 2018. You can read more about the conference here and here. See you next year. Sign up to our monthly newsletter to get the news about it. … Read More
EVENT. With the third European DataEthics Forum in Copenhagen we once again demonstrated that we are way beyond talking about data ethics. We do it. And this year we went deeper with for example demonstrations of how to explain an … Read More
Event. We’ve heard much about ‘black box algorithms and AI’. Secret systems that analyse and predicts your credit score and search results, your likability of getting the flue or winning a game. ‘Black box’ means secret, a business secret just … Read More
Study. A wide EU-study shows that 92% of the airline ticket websites, 76% of hotel room websites, and 41% of websites selling sports shoes personalise offers, when a consumer enters the site. The price differentiation, though, seems to be very … Read More
Research. Google sucks up more personal data than most people could imagine. Even when a Chrome browser is in “incognito” mode, shows new research form Vanderbilt University. Google denies it and tries to miscredit the professor behind. Get a list … Read More
Who should be the most autonomous. Cars? Chat bots? AI based doctors? Or Humans? Humans, of course, and if we aim to keep humans behind the wheel, we need data ethical considerations on top of our privacy policies. But what … Read More
Research. Businesses, politicians and scholars all call for property rights in data. But this should be avoided according to a research paper from University of Californation. “Various parties are actively staking their claims to data on the Internet of Things, … Read More
EVENT. The woman who is fighting Facebook. The man who is fighting Google. A bunch of privacy and data ethics focused startups and companies. And a wonderful international network of humans who are interested in using personal data in an … Read More
News. “Three-person babies. Extreme biohacking. Outposts on Mars. Cheating death. The changing nature of life as we know it. The future portends to be amazing (and terrifying), and it’s right around the corner.” This is how Medium is selling its … Read More
The UK government is asking the public sector to work with data in an ethical responsible way. Therefore they have released an ethical framework to spur data ethical innovation. It deals with 7 principles and are mainly initiatives done on … Read More
RESEARCH. In a new report on Artificial Intelligence, the UK House of Lords promotes ethics as the centre of the development of artificial intelligence. The reports also paints a picture of a current AI field run by data monopolies. The report … Read More
News. In both hearings before the US Senate and Congress, Facebook CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg only mentioned two kinds of data: information that people decide to share on the platform, and data that is automatically collected about people’s behaviour, … Read More
News. YouTube is profiting off young views and illegally collecting data about under-age viewers. This is the accusation of more than 20 advocacy group who have filed a complaint to the FTC to investigate if Google – owner of YouTube … Read More
With the increasing public debate on questions regarding fake news, voter manipulation etc., ethical questions regarding data handling have finally gained real momentum. Several initiatives are currently set in motion to develop the basic data ethics standards for technology and … Read More
News. A new study, The Child Data Violators, made by the thinkdotank DataEthics.eu is benchmarking 14 services aimed at or used by children. It shows that only 2 of 14 are treating childrens’ data ethically responsible. LEGO and Edulab are … Read More
News. Dana Boyd, researcher at Microsoft, founder of Data & Society and a kids and gadget expert, has some good tips for parents worrying about their kids’ addiction to their Smartphones. It is about verbalizing what you do, making a … Read More
Analysis. Personal data can help develop societies. We use data to predict patterns and manage risks, to invent new vaccines, get effective access to information, create new and cleaner technologies. But, in the case of predictions based on personal data, … Read More
Survey. Location data is one of the most sensitive personal data types it seems according to consumers. A new survey shows that a vast majority are very uneasy sharing location data and that only a small minority share location always … Read More
Whitepaper. Use GDPR to improve data protection strategies, says new whitepaper “Maintaining Data Protection and Privacy Beyond GDPR Implementation” from ISACA, written by Privacy Program Manager Tim Clements. Download it below. Too many enterprises are treating their GDPR challenge as … Read More
Research. Data analysis is the rocket fuel for targeted advertising on social media platforms. It is a mistake to fixate on Russia, as it is only one of many online disinformation operators, according to new research on precision propaganda called … Read More
News. The new European privacy law, GDPR, is having effect all over the world for companies wanting a part of the lucrative EU market. Big in the US has been changing their services to live up to the new regulation. … Read More
News. Apple’s privacy-by-default feature, Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in the newest version of the Safari browser will cost the ad tech business millions of dollars. One of the big players is downsizing its estimations of revenue by 22%, according to … Read More
The thinkdotank DataEthics.eu has developed a set of data ethics principles and guidelines that may help the integration of data ethics in your data processing activities. Here, we present the principles, a detailed questionnaire and a FAQ on data ethics. … Read More
News. Protection and preventing abusive competition are two sides of the same coin when it comes to social networks, according to the Germans, whose anti-trust authority accuses Facebook of abusing its dominant position. The German authority objects to Facebook’s requirement … Read More
Research. The importance of digital technologies for social and economic developments and a growing focus on data collection and privacy concerns have made the Internet a salient and visible issue in global politics. Recent developments have increased the awareness that … Read More
Research. There has been much dispute over GDPR and whether it entails a right to explanation of e.g. algorithmic decision-making. According to a paper from Andrew D. Selbst, Data & Society, and Julia Powles, University of Cambridge that right is … Read More
Testimony. The personal reputation business is exploding. Having eroded privacy for decades, shady, poorly regulated data miners, brokers and resellers have now taken creepy classification to a whole new level. Such are the words of professor of Law Frank Pasquale, … Read More
Research. AI does not exist in a vacuum and the promises of the tech companies behind are not enough. New report highlights four challenge areas and gives recommendations on how to proceed. Artificial intelligent (AI) systems are already integrated in … Read More
News. Depending on how much a traditional salesperson – or the computer system knows about you – that is typically the price you get. The key question is whether personalized pricing in-store as well as on the web, is ethical. … Read More
Research. Can regular people, not just impersonal, commercially-motivated merchants or advertising networks—can exploit the online advertising ecosystem to extract private information about other people? The answer is yes. A new study documents that. For example, an individual or small group … Read More
Survey. Young people seem optimistic about technology and the benefits it may bring not only to their personal lives but also to society at large. But there is a limit to how much they would trust robots and if they … Read More
News. Driverless cars should prioritize the protection of human life over the destruction of animals or property. Such are a set of new guidelines from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure after a panel of experts have scrutinized … Read More
News. There have been ethical problems and ambiguities about Facebook since the moment of its creation. Three books dive into the company that claims to have 2 bio users, is growing 18% a year and sits on 4 og the … Read More
Research. Cybertroops are government, military or political party teams committed to manipulating public opinion over social media. Cyber troops are a pervasive and global phenomenon. Many different countries employ significant numbers of people and resources to manage and manipulate public … Read More
News. IoT predictions have been soaring, but the last year they have taken a turn. May be your customers aren’t ready for them yet and they simply don’t want smart features. Ask them and consider the economics, before you invest … Read More
NEWS: The IEEE P7006™ – Standard for Personal Data Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agent can help develop AI agents to provide data vaults and algorithms allowing individual access and control of personal information. The growth of Artificial Intelligence creates a risk … Read More
Event. For the second year the 3-day MyData conference in Finland will be held august 3oth-Sept 2nd 2017. The list of speakers is over 100 (DataEthics is one) and the programme is divided into 12 thematic tracks. and the main stage … Read More
News. Google has helped finance 100s of research papers to defend against regulatory challenges of its market dominance in the US, paying $5,000 to $400,000 for the work, The Wall Street Journal found. Google uses the research in meetings with … Read More
News. Blocking ads – and thus also cookie-tracking – is much more common (and easy) on the computer than on mobile gadgets. A new report, The State of Mobile Adblocking, shows that 1 of 2 US smartphone users actually wish … Read More
News. As nascent technologies fuse physical, digital and biological worlds the question arise: What does it mean to be human? We have already began transforming man to machine, and some people believe in the ‘singularity’ – that artificial intelligence advances … Read More
News. A new ‘The Digital Standard’ shall help consumers “understand which digital products do the most to protect their privacy and security, and give them the most control over their personal data.” With a historic power to influence governments and … Read More
Research. Based on hospital admissions researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have proven that you can predict the likelihood of a someone committing suicide. With machine-learning algorithms Colin Walsh, a data scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, can predict the likelihood … Read More
Event. How to track location and not be creepy. What happens when a company gives its customers control over their own data. What is a truly private chat- and ‘skype’ app. Or laptops w built-in security and privacy-centric features? How … Read More
News. Six European data authorities are going after and fining Facebook for abusing European personal data and not adhering the the laws. The allegations are long: Unlawful tracking. Legal requirements regarding consent, fairness, transparency and proportionality not met. Insufficient information … Read More
Report. ‘Information Operations’ are actions taken by organized actors to distort political sentiment, most frequently to achieve a strategic and/or geopolitical outcome. These operations can use a combination of methods, such as false news, disinformation, or networks of fake accounts … Read More
News. As Uber talks up its determination to treat drivers more humanely, it is engaged in an extraordinary behind-the-scenes experiment in behavioral science to manipulate them in the service of its corporate growth. The story in the New York Times … Read More
Research. Preliminary evidence suggests that the so-called sharing economy firms may be leveraging their access to data about users and their control over the user experience to mislead, coerce, or otherwise disadvantage sharing economy participants. A new paper from Ryan … Read More
Take part in a round table discussion on how ethical treatment of personal data is becoming a competitive advantage, on the growing privacy tech market and how to tap into it with Pernille Tranberg, co-founder of the thinkdotank DataEthics. Pernille … Read More
NEWS: An extraordinary array of gadgets are on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, both technologies already on the market and ones that will be soon. The future is a more connected one based on a constant … Read More
News. Psychologist Michal Kosinski developed a method to analyze people in minute detail based on their Facebook activity. Did a similar tool help propel Donald Trump to victory? The company behind Trump’s online campaign—the same company that had worked for … Read More
Survey. A new report from PageFair shows that the main business model of the Internet is under immense pressure. According to ‘The state of the blocked web 2017 Global Adblock Report’ the global number of desktop and mobile devices that … Read More
Survey. Increasingly consumers are getting sceptical towards the tracking of their personal data online. A new survey from McKinesey/Comscore shows that a majority prefer privacy over personalization. And that many have taken on privacy tools. Consumers in Brazil, China, Egypt, … Read More
Research. People often say that online behavior would improve if every comment system forced people to use their real names. Evidence over the past thirty years suggests that this is not the case. Not only would removing anonymity fail to consistently … Read More
News. An new EU-funded project, Virt-EU, will analyze and map the ethical practices of developers within the IoT space. The goal is to understand how ethics is enacted today, generate a new framework for privacy, ethical and social impact assessment … Read More
News. What happens when artificial intelligence, AI, is incorporated into robots looking like humans? Will be be able to distinguish? One skeptical expert and one slightly more hopeful expert discus this in the Guardians podcast Chips With Everything. The scope … Read More
News. This coming month the thinkdotank DataEthics.eu will be very active internationally. It will be present both at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) and on the conference Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP). ‘Responsive and Responsible Leadership’ is the … Read More
News. Welcome to the moral machine. A platform for gathering a human perspective on moral decisions made by machine intelligence, such as self-driving cars. Such is the message when you arrive at the MoralMachine. Here you can make decisions yourself … Read More
The initiative represents the collective input of over one hundred global thought leaders from academia, science, government and corporate sectors in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, ethics, philosophy, and policy. The purpose of is to ensure every technologist is educated, … Read More
The Norwegian Consumer Council has looked at the terms and the technical features of selected connected toys. The findings show a serious lack of understanding of children’s rights to privacy and security. Based on what was discovered, consumer organizations in … Read More
The overall revenue pool from car data monetization at a global scale might add up to USD 450 – 750 billion by 2030, according to the consulting company McKinsey, who has identified 30 distinct use cases that hold the potential … Read More
For thousands of years humans believed that authority came from the gods. Then, humanism gradually shifted authority to people. Now a shift is taking place in which high-tech gurus and Silicon Valley prophets are creating a new universal narrative that … Read More
Research. “Before we too readily endorse smart devices and sensors that can send into the cloud information about many personal aspects of our daily lives, it is essential to have an informed discussion about the implications of the Internet of … Read More
News. GAFA, the acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, plus the bigger companies who have re-invented themselves or just emerged such as GE and Samsung have become superstars of the global economy, and are empires of bits and bytes … Read More
At the recent conference PrivacyCon held by the US Federal Trade Commission, 13 out of 19 papers and 23 out of 41 speakers had financial ties to Google. Only two papers included disclosure of an ongoing or past financial connection … Read More
FREDAG 18. NOVEMBER KL.19, CINEMATEKET, KBH DataEthics.eu, Goethe Instituttet og Institut for Menneskerettigheder viser dokumentarfilmen Democracy – Im Rausch der Daten af David Bernet for første gang i Danmark. Filmen giver et enestående indblik i kulisserne bag lovgivningsarbejdet i EU … Read More
News. Scientific studies show that your heart rate can be an indicator of sexual dysfunction, that low resting heart rates correlates with propensity for violence and that an elevated heart rate can lead to others being less likely to cooperate … Read More
News. Risk scores, generated by algorithms, are becoming a common factor in sentencing in the US. Computers crunch data like arrests, type of crime, and demographic information, and a risk rating is generated. The idea is to create a guide … Read More
News. A third party can potentially identify as many as 30% to 40% of delisted URLs and the name of the individual who requested the removal, researchers from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, NYU Shanghai and the Federal University of … Read More
Research. With digitalisation of the economy use of data is not longer a matter for primarily data protections regulators. Competition is also relevant, according to this research paper from the German and French competition authorities, identifying the key issues and … Read More
News. The more connected we get, the more people will hit the brake, embrace analogue, dumb phones (which we might have to re-name ‘smartphones’ one day) and unconnectedness. The former YouTube director Anna Bateson told Mediatel that we have forgotten … Read More
Research. According to a new study from Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Yann Padova, the new EU data protection regulation (GDPR) considerably opens up the door for big data. “The new data protection setup is far from being simple or transparent, leaves … Read More
News. Companies once thought they’d make big money off big data. Now it is their biggest liability. In the future, successful data companies will not own any data. We are heading for a data crunch, as citizens are more conscious … Read More
News. There has been a 20 percent drop in membership of loyalty programmes among the affluent middle class since 2014 up to 2016 according to a survey from Collison Group on programs run by supermarkets, airlines, credit card providers, retailers, … Read More
By Marianne Steen & Pernille Tranberg Blog. The discussion about the dissemination and sharing of nude photos of children and adults have a good explanation. The vast majority of people have no idea what it means to be a public … Read More
Research. How do you judge the intent of a piece of software? Accountability tools for regulators have not been developed as fast a new tools for algorithmic decision-making. Transparency will not solve this. This research from Princeton University reveals a … Read More
News. Since 2014 the use of ad- and cookieblocking has more than doubled and Emarketer expects that it will only be more and more common. Today 20,5 percent of UK internet users block ads and cookies. In 2017 the number … Read More
Next week the world’s leading internet organization, ISOC, will host a workshop on data ethical practices in Dublin, Ireland. Irish Times Business writes: “Research on how organisations can deal ethically with personal data has been around for a good two … Read More
News. A woman needs to drive her son to the hospital fast, as he has a alarmingly high fever, but her car won’t start. Another woman is driving on the highway and suddenly her car was turned off sending her … Read More