Google is about to take over many elementary schools in Europe with its Chromebooks and the app collection in Google Suit for Education. The data monopoly sits on about half of the elementary schools in Denmark, and the second largest … Read More
Three Norwegian municipalities are breaking the law in their use of Google Suit for Education (GSFE) and thus get a warning from the Data Protection Authority (DPA). It is very hard – if possible at all – to actually use … Read More
Either we stick to the behavioural advertising in its current form (being illegal according to the Belgian data authorities), where detailed data about us are tracked, profiled targeted and shared, or we will have to pay for content. This is … Read More
The Forum on Information and Democracy has published a report of on how to fix infodemics. Based on more than 100 contributions from international experts, it offers 250 recommendations on how to rein in a phenomenon that threatens democracies and … Read More
In Denmark, when you turn 65, you’re supposed to get a visit from the municipality if you need it. The purpose is to assess your living situation and find out if you need any help, be it home care or preventive programs from the public authorities. When you … Read More
Analysis. Products and services, which try to embed privacy and work ethically responsible with data, are finally progressing. It is uphill to compete with monopoly tech’s convenient and dirt cheap or ‘free’ products, but more and more individuals seem to … Read More
US antitrust authorities have slept for at least a decade when it come to tech. But something may be looming. The US Justice Department might be on its way with cases against two monopolies, Google and Amazon. Meanwhile, both the … Read More
The Chinese are coming. Beware! The Trump government is warning everybody against digital services like TikTok, because it is, he says, stealing American data. What he does not say is that he and American big tech are deeply worried about … Read More
Sitra, the Finnish independent innovation fund, who invests in a fair and sustainable future, believes that Europe must work more fiercely towards fair data economy, and that GDPR is not enough. In a new report “On the trail of personal … Read More
The World Federation of Advertisers, WFA, has launched a guide to its members on how they can go the data ethics way. It comes at a time where doing the right thing is becoming more of a must have that … Read More
Social media have a lot of issues to resolve, must live up to all laws and remove content that is unlawful. But social media is not traditional media, who is regulated by media law and press ethics. That is why … Read More
Over a 100 years ago, the US company Pullman produced railroad cars and wanted to place a factory 10 miles outside the city center. It built a city around the factory premises, where all the workers could live and thus … Read More
The Danish ARKEN Museum of Modern Art is not doing what many others are doing these days. Choosing new digital tools out of convenience and speediness. Arken has had ethical thoughts before choosing their new webinar tool in their digital … Read More
Is it okay to participate in the criticized ad tech system, when your service is dealing with such sensitive data as women’s fertility data? For the German-founded privacy-focused start-up Clue, it is a constant balance between being user-friendly and private … Read More
One of the main role models within the new data ethics era might end up being the Swedish multinational Ingka Group, the strategic partner to IKEA. The company presented its thoughts for the first time at the World Economic Forum … Read More
If we want to use personal data to help humans and societies thrive, we need to make de-anonymisation illegal and let independent third parties into machine rooms to audit anonymisation processes. As it is today, we get more and more … Read More
Brands should be very careful using one of Facebook’s ad platforms. They are creepy stalkers, and more and more will get annoyed by it. Pouring you marketing money into that might be doing yourself a disservice. The other day I … Read More
As with most other telcos, Telefonica is looking for new business models, as their old model is becoming extinguished. Privacy and security is one area, where the Spanish telco is investing and seeing new opportunities. For over a year, it … Read More
The Germans are ahead of other countries when it comes to data ethics and responsible use of data and AI. The government established a Data Ethics Commission in 2018 and has published and opinion on data ethics covering both data … Read More
No way should we let machines and data take over from humans in health care. But we should let machines assist us in the hard work, where they are better than humans. The overriding question is; how much control and … Read More
All you need is a URL. Share it. Go there and you are in the video meeting. No need to create an account or download an app or any software. Most people use US-based video conference tools in stead of … Read More
If individuals control their own data, they control their own lives and neither government nor big companies can manipulate us economically or politically. There is a long way to go for that, but there is a growing movement around ‘my … Read More
Interview with Mette Nordahl Svendsen, professor in anthropology and member of the steering group of the Challenge project, researching all the ethical issues involved in health data science. When you are old, sick and cannot speak or move, you need … Read More
Blog. When Apple blocked by default all third party cookies in its Safari-browser, Facebook and others made a circumvention and used a first party cookie to track us. Apple is back with an answer to that. The ad tech industry … Read More
BLOG. If we want to use personal data to enhance our lives and society, we need to do it in a way that can be trusted and does not compromise our privacy. Danish scientists offer a solution where data is … Read More
Blog. The global AI race has been on for a while. It is about speedy automation, and China and the US are heading in a fierce competition, where human autonomy is secondary to economic growth. China operates as a ‘data … Read More
Blog. The Chinese Government’s role in China’s tech revolution and application of AI is huge and clever – and according to Kai-Fu Lee, a Chinese-American investor, China will very soon catch up with and possibly surpass the US in artificial … Read More
News. A new way of getting you to pay the optimal price – according to the seller – is to higher the price, the closer you get to a physical store, according to a story In Yahoo Finance. But this … Read More
Blog. 2o18 was the year of the techlash. Mainly driven by the revelations of Facebook’s yearlong laissez-faire with personal data and Cambridge Analytica’s abuse of it. Google, however, worries that they are next, and there is a good reason for … Read More
Blog. Anything that can be predicted will be predicted. Such were the words in one of many events in Davos during World Economic Forum 2019. Artificial intelligence, privacy and ethics and data for good use were among the hot topics … Read More
Blog. Learning processes and tests at schools and universities are typically highly personal. Therefore in the past, these data have not been shared. Now, researchers at The Technical University of Denmark, have found a way to share these data without … Read More
Blog. Report from the 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. Big tech, capitalising big on other peoples’ data, were scolded. Others hit the roof talking about saving democracy and humanity. Facebook has at least 11 ways of … Read More
DataEthics.eu is invited to participate in the 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners Debating Ethics. We are part of a Creative Café involving ‘specially invited knowledge holders’ discussing ‘How To Move Forward In Digital Ethics?’ Below are … Read More
Blog. Google’s plan of building a neighborhood in Toronto is moving forward. Until recently, urban planning was done by public authorities where the public had a right to know what was going on. These days might be over. There is … Read More
Blog. Do you want to know, if a service sits on your personal data and what it does with it? With one click you can ask more than 60 of the bigger companies instead of writing them one by one. … Read More
Book Chapter. Profiling through cookies, IP addresses, apps, device fingerprinting and data brokers is getting more advanced, as are new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, using microchips and sensors integrated into our homes, cars and cities. Everything we do online … Read More
Analysis. The most common tool in the most common business model of the Internet, is cookie tracking. Some visionary companies are showing the data ethics way with no cookies or with privacy-by-design cookies, and as users realize how easy it … Read More
Blog. Will you pay with money to read news, or are you okay with paying with your opinions? These are two options the Dutch start-up, the Playwall, offers media companies to obtain more users and income – and become less … Read More
News. The French insurance company MAIF is probably one of the first companies in the world, who can claim that it pays to treat other people’s data ethically responsible. Where is the money? For years impatient data ethics skeptics have … Read More
Book. Regulation, competitive innovation, social responsibility, worker and consumer choice and education are the five magic bullets on how to solve the current digital trust crisis, according to an excellent book from Andrew Keen; ‘How To Fix the Future’. As … Read More
Blog. Facebook’s ‘Custom Audience’ gives you access to new customers that look like you current customers – it gives you ‘lookalikes’ and it is the most powerful weapon in the Facebook ads arsenal. According to a former Facebook product manager; … Read More
Report. The Ethics Advisory Group (EAG) to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has identified the most crucial digital ethics dilemmas confronting humans in the wake of new technology. The report ‘Towards A Digital Ethics’ describes how we in Europe … Read More
Analysis. Ethics, privacy, regulation, accountability and the survival of humanity were major issues at this year’s World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, which ended on Friday, January 26th. It was all about data and the many possibilities, and especially the … Read More
The Danish company Edulab has prepared a customer data promise as a set of data ethical guidelines and an understandable privacy policy, telling users what they do and don’t do with their data. A role model which most services targeted … Read More
Blog. There are multiple opportunities for the future workplace, when it comes to using data. ISS, the Danish cleaning service and facility management company, is an interesting case. Due to privacy laws in Europe, the global company is reluctant to … Read More
Analysis. The big data challenge in 2018 in will be to maintain digital trust. In government, in companies and in each other. In Europe, new groundbreaking privacy rules are in place that ensure the individual’s right to control his own … Read More
Analysis. We are about to outsource the human brain to the computer without having a debate about where we set the limits. Has human and human authority climaxed, and are we heading into a post-human era where artificial intelligent robots … Read More
Blog. Most social media and apps know that they have many children on their services, but they refrain from any responsibility by requiring that you have to be 13 years in their terms which almost no one reads when signing … Read More
Blog. Should all vulnerable infrastructure, products for babies and children and artificial body parts be digitized and be online in the future? Or are there areas that should not be a 100% digitized? Technological development dictates; digitize. But may be … Read More
Daniel Kaplan is part of Fing.org and MesInfos.org and MyData.org and spoke at European Data Ethics Forum about how to empower individuals with their own data and do meaningful things with their data. Knowledge is power, and of course we … Read More
Blog. Have you ever experienced that you have talked to someone about something, and then got an advertisement for it without having typed in anything online concerning that topic? More and more do get that experience, as some apps listen … Read More
News. The ‘transparent charging station’ makes visible the invisible logic using a algorithm-base display that shows how the electricity is allocated between the cars being charged. The idea from Holland fits well in the the MyData-Movement, as it is a … Read More
Analysis. Your customers are the best source of rich, relevant, recent, true and personalized data about themselves. In stead of collecting data from multiple more or less valid sources, it is smarter handing over the control of their data to … Read More
Blog. Some companies have begun to exploiting that individuals have become transparent due to constant tracking of our online behaviour. They feed us with offers and prices, which are more to their own advantage than their customers’. Tools for digital … Read More
Research. New research suggest that Instagram can be used for early screening and detection of mental illness. Using artificial intelligence, scientist have screened 43.950 Instagram photos and identified markers of depression. “People in our sample who were depressed tended to … Read More
Book. A new freely available German book looks at all angles of digitalization. Personalized medicine and pricing, AI and algorithms, digitalised education and fitness, open source, a monthly recap of what has happened in Germany in 2017 and a vox … Read More
Research. How is commercial digital profiling and data-driven algorithmic decisions affecting equality, freedom, autonomy, democracy, and human dignity on both individual and societal levels. With this in mind, a new report from Cracked Labs focuses on the actual practices and … Read More
News. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will change the role of the car and therefore we need to make sure that AI will share our values. Such was the message from the CEO of Audi Rupert Stadler at a UN conference AI … Read More
News. The Book HOMO DEUS is a remarkable must-read. It makes you think in-depth about the future, and how we can and should try to shape it. The future scenarios from Israeli author Professor Yuval Noah Harari are mostly gloomy … Read More
Report. The UK data protection office published a new well-written report on big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data protection. Especially 5 areas can have possible implications for data protection. “It is not a case of big data ‘or’ … Read More
Research. As with everything else there are pros and cons when it comes to algorithms. Are the glass half-full or half empty? Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center conducted a large-scale canvassing of technology experts, scholars, … Read More
Analysis. Wire. Disconnect. Startpage. Protonmail. TomTom. HelloClue. These are all companies which can be categorized as part of a new and growing market for ‘Privacy Tech’ aimed at consumers. Data Gravity, Privacy Perfect, Privacy Cheq and One Trust are part … Read More
Blog. Blockchain, ethics and AI, robotics and ethics, and a human manifesto. These are some of the take aways DataEthics.eu took back from a week in January in Davos, where the global elite gathered for World Economic Forum 2017. “The … Read More
Not only the address is cool: Rosenthaler Str 40 in Berlin, 6th floor overlooking Hackesche Markt. The product is just as cool: At secure privacy-enhancing messaging and ‘skype’ app called WIRE – free and user-friendly. For Wire, privacy was a … Read More
Survey. A new survey from KMPG International investigates when cool become creepy? When does convenient turn into intrusive? Understanding consumers’ sensitivities around the use of their personal data is central to establishing and maintaining trust between consumer and company, KMPG … Read More
Report. An EU opinion explores the concept of technologies and ecosystems aiming at empowering individuals to control the sharing of their personal data. The so-called personal data stores entail huge perspectives in supporting data protection principles, but they also face … Read More
News. Both the US and Germany are openly discussing how to regulate artificial intelligence – and especially in cars which are speeding ahead with autonomous systems. The Germans are very concrete in their wishes to regulate the autonomous cars, whereas … Read More
The Japanese Government has decided to test and promote the relatively new concept called Personal Data Stores, where individuals get control over their own data as opposed to the current digital infrastructure with huge data monopolies controlling most personal data. … Read More
News. Data protection regulation and antitrust are two regulative ways of gaining and preserving Europeans’ rights to privacy. And some of the tools for individuals to control their own data could be new services like personal data stores and services … Read More
The ‘MyData Movement’ came off the ground this week in Helsinki. With the conference MyData2016 we are seeing the beginning of a paradigm shift, where corporate control of personal data will begin shifting to individual data control. ‘The Person is … Read More
News. The lines between tech companies and a media companies are blurring. Media companies rely more and more on tech companies for distribution. Tech giants do like politicians and turn away from critical questions from traditional media, and secretive tech … Read More
Blog. Danish companies want to offer more personalized advertising. They are asking for a revision of a payment services act, which is fair enough, as it will ensure fair competition with global services who can use our credit card data … Read More
Report. The benefits of sharing personal data are drowned by discomfort for many consumers. They feel there is no fair value exchange or individual data control. If brands don’t want consumers to turn off and tune out, they need to … Read More
Blog. With some big data companies twisting and even abusing privacy terms, we need to be very careful in distinguishing the true privacy and data ethical companies and practices from those who are clearly ‘privacy washing’ or in a nicer … Read More
The Council for Big Data, Ethics and Society has published a whitepaper with recommendations to implement big data research ethics. With the two Danish students from Aarhus University, who released profile data on 70.000 users without permission, in mind this … Read More
Blog. How will self-driving cars change transportation and our cities, who is to blame in an accident, are they creepy or not. The newspaper Information hosted an exciting event at Science Day, 25.04.2016. Below are selected highlights. Mette Møller, DTU: … Read More
Analysis. In both Europe and the US insurance companies have started calculating premiums according to how we behave. If we behave ‘properly’, we get a lower premium or even direct payment. It is a great advantage for many, especially the young … Read More
Blog. Investors are pouring money into apps that allow women to track their fertility. This can be good for couples wanting to control when to get pregnant and for science. But there are huge privacy pitfalls here, as we are … Read More
News. Step 1: The white hat hacker finds all the domain names a company uses and makes a list of all the active email addresses at a corporation. Then they start researching on the people in the company. Their Linkedin, … Read More
Analysis. Before you buy a wearable to track your health, then check whether you can trust the company behind the gadget. Products for the quantified-self-segment are a lucrative business growing rapidly, because they really are motivating to use. But most … Read More
News. Companies are mining data about their employees to predict their individual health and recommend treatments. It is data about prescription drugs, they use, how they sh op and if they vote. Experts in the article in Wall Street Journal … Read More
Research: Data collection and analytics have pervaded nearly every sphere of daily life, from commerce to health, from transport to education, to employment. But there is also a rise in intimate surveillance relating to love, romance, and sexual activity. There … Read More
Report. Most fitness trackers leak personal data and are not privacy safe. This is one of more results of an investigation of the privacy and security properties of eight popular wearable fitness tracking systems. The Every Step You Fake investigation … Read More
Blog. CPDP2016 is over. The best conference in Europe on privacy and data ethics took place from Wednesday to Friday – 27th-29th – in Brussels. Below a few highlights, but most of the sessions will be shown here on Youtube … Read More
Report. The EU ENISA office concludes in the report Privacy By Design in Big Data from December 2015 that there is a need to create common privacy-by-design criteria, to promote privacy-enhancing-technologies and for common policy enforcement. According to ENISA there … Read More
Analysis. Some public websites are starting to clean out the use of so-called third-party cookies – those who share personal information with others. Websites with advertising are more dependent on tracking cookies – also called small spies. Yet, many public … Read More
Report: Businesses collect massive volumes of data from individuals, using it to personalize customer offerings, innovate products and diversify into new markets. But increasingly customers are concerned about who is doing what with their data. Governments are rewriting the rules … Read More
News: The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. But it could also yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labor markets. This … Read More
News: The US government is suing Microsoft, because Microsoft won’t give the government access to some emails stores on Microsoft’s Irish servers. The US government won the first round, but within months the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in … Read More
News: The new General Data Protection Regulation from the EU, which found a compromise late December, and is expected be finally agreed upon in January 2016, has some good and some bad news. Some of the good: Individuals have clear rights: for example you can demand … Read More
Blog: Do you give your customers a right to see what data you have on them? Can they ask to correct this data or have it erased? And do you tell them that you don’t sell their data to third … Read More
Event: One of the better privacy conferences is “Computers, Privacy and Data Protection” – CPDP in January in Brussels every year. It all started with Caspar Bowden, formerly Microsoft, later a highly respected critical observer of data abuse and, unfortunately, … Read More
Report. World Economic Forum has identified 6 mega trends. People and the internet. Computing, communications and storage everywhere. The Internet of Things. Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. The sharing economy and distributed trust. And The digitization of matter. Read … Read More
Hundreds of millions of users are already blocking ads and cookies today, but it is just be the tip of the iceberg, claims Frederic Filoux in his always great column Monday Note. “The ad blocking picture in even more startling … Read More
News: Facebook will stop tracking non-facebook-users, which it has done for 5 years, after the Belgian data authority said it is violating European privacy laws. On the other hand, the growing data monopoly now forces non-facebook-users to register on Facebook, … Read More
Analysis. The latest consumer surveys show that the business model – tracking-by-default – where you pay with your personal data without knowing how much and to whom – is suffering. Individuals want control over their own lives, and they have … Read More
News: The EU intends to maximise growth and competitiveness by exploiting big data. But the Digital Single Market cannot uncritically import the data-driven technologies and businessmodels which have become economic mainstream in other areas of the world. Instead it needs to show leadership in developing accountable personal data processing. The internet has evolved in a … Read More
Research: It can be tough being a human in a machine’s world. Over six months, two researchers studied how workplace automation affects Uber drivers. What they found, in online forums and interviews, isn’t always pretty. Read the story here and the … Read More
Blog: Eric Salamar from Kantar: Companies, who find big data easiest, are new companies with no legacy. Those who have one login and have a direct relationship with their customers are better off but legacy companies are coming along …… What is … Read More
News: A growing number of patients are using Facebook to find living donors. And an ethical debate rages on in the medical community. Some medical ethicists fear the use of social media creates a separate organ donation system in which the cutest kid or … Read More