NEWS

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

We have recently seen many examples of the danger of misinformation distributed on social media (SoMe).  The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by a misinformation pandemic, including conspiracy theories questioning the existence of this deadly disease, anti-mask propaganda, and claims … Read More

The Norwegian Data Protection Agency has introduced a regulatory sandbox following a British model. The sandbox establishes a project environment for AI, where private and public companies can get free guidance on personal data protection. The Norwegian sandbox aims at … 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

Many people like YouTube recommendations, but they can also lead some into extremism or have other serious consequences, and YouTube does have a history of recommending harmful content — from pandemic conspiracies to political disinformation — to its users, even … 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

Photo by fauxels from Pexels We are used to having big private companies be in control of our personal data in exchange for using their services. But what if we could be in control our data and earn the profit … 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

Academic AI researchers receive quite extensive financial support from big tech, according to several articles and studies. 58% of faculty at four prominent universities have received grants, fellowship, or other financial support from Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Nividia, … Read More

“Dear Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, We represent a diverse coalition of interest groups and individuals calling on you to end targeted, ‘behavioural’ advertising to children on your sites, and the tracking which underpins it”. These are the opening … Read More

Data ethics are on the agenda in an increasing number of organisations. This means that consideration is given to the ethical justification of how data and personal data are handled. In addition to the legal frameworks, the desirability of data … 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

Ethics procedures are a core component of any AI innovation and research. It is essential that we do not undermine this during the Covid19 crisis. Europe still needs to deliver on its “Trustworthy AI agenda”. Most of us know the … 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

Children interact with or are impacted by AI systems that are not designed for them, and current policies do not address this, according to a new UNICEF draft policy guidance report on children and AI. AI systems are increasingly being … Read More

New draft guidelines from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on social media are clarifying roles and responsibilities for platforms, users and advertisers. The draft guidelines are open for public consultation until October 19, 2020 and can have far reaching … Read More

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is currently drafting a general comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. The document falls under the Rights of the Child – the most ratified human rights treaty in … Read More

China has risen as a key player in the digital domain. And it uses its influence to promote digital authoritarianism, which presents security, privacy, and human rights concerns for the free world. China is working to undermine our democratic institutions … Read More

Facebook’s decisions over the last nine months have resulted in serious setbacks for civil rights and the prioritisation of free expression over all other values, such as equality and non-discrimination, is deeply troubling to the auditors. Further on privacy, groups … Read More

At the end of May 202, the company Cleardox held a webinar looking into GDPR two years after. Jakob Kamby from Kammeradvokaten, Allan Frank from the Danish DPA, Stephen Alstrup, Superwiz/Copenhagen Univerisity and Pernille Tranberg, DataEthics.eu, participated. Here is the … Read More

The internet was originally designed without an identity layer, which means, that even tough two devices can connect and interact online, it is difficult to guarantee that the one you are interacting with is who they claim to be. It … 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

Julia Sommer attended a webinar recently (May 15th 2020) discussing the Corona app. She summarised it in scribing. Click on the picture or the link under the picture to enlarge. Overview Sune Lehmann Rikke Frank Jørgensen Stinus Lindgren & Conclusion … Read More

The inversion of democracy is a slow process of getting used to less and less freedom. In moments of crisis, there is a big risk that we make choices about adopting public health tech too hastily and without considerations as … Read More

While isolation preserves us from the pandemic, it makes us especially vulnerable to the effects of the infodemic. In a context that has brought our offline lives to the online wires, we are all exposed to being constantly tested by … Read More

DataEthics.eu’s white paper on AI in public procurement has been forwarded to EU policymakers. First response we have received is from the European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton who writes (26th of May 2020): “..I was very pleased to … Read More

Access Now, an international non-profit group that advocates for human rights online, have formulated 26 human right-centered recommendations for content governance, based on ideals of freedom, openness and democratic values. The following is an abstract of the problems identified by … 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

A lot of confusion about the term’s roots, history and disciplinary approaches is clouding the current debate. Is it “ethics washing”? Is it misappropriation of a term? Who “owns” the term? The popularity of the term “data ethics” exploded in … Read More

(updates 29th April and 6th July below) Because of the Corona crisis, many are advised to stay at home and to avoid physical contact as much as possible. This means that we must avoid meeting up with co-workers, voluntary organisations … Read More

Yuval Harari, historian and author of Sapiens and Homo Deus, has written an opinion in The Financial Times and everybody, especially politicians, should read it, as it is vital that we do not give up on our democratic rights even … 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

Are you doing webinars? Here are advice on how to get a good start (and ethical tools to use). Many still feel uncomfortable with organizing webinars and prefer physical events. And agreed, there are things you cannot do in a … Read More

In the paper Owning Ethics: Corporate Logics, Silicon Valley, and the Institutionalization of Ethics by Jacob Metcalf, Emanuel Moss and Danah Boyd the authors investigates the role and pitfalls of ethics in big cooperate firms in Silicon Valley and how … Read More

In a town in the southern part of the Netherlands a futuristic neighbourhood is about to be built. ‘BrainPort SmartDistrict’ will be a neighbourhood for citizens of the future. In this analysis I explain how the project was criticized for not embedding privacy and putting the residents at the center – and then how the project changed focus. But  despite a new focus, there are still many ethical questions to be asked and discussed – the most important being: It is desired? … Read More

Over the past couple of years experts have been pointing to ‘data trusts’ as a way to make a more democratic and fair infrastructure. Report after report have pointed to the need of trying this out. Despite wide endorsement of … Read More

“Big Tech manipulates Academia in order to avoid regulation”, claims Rodrigo Ochigame in a recent article in The Intercept. But  maybe the headline ought to be: “Big Tech buys Academia in order to avoid regulation”? It started back in 2016 … Read More

There are many examples of bad design. Unethical design and even illegal design, where services are trying to lure more data out of us than necessary. A really good report from the French Data Protection Agency CNIL is addressing this. … 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

When talking about data collection and profiling of tech companies, people tend to think: “It does not concern me, I have nothing to hide.” The issue, however, is not about protecting secrets. It is about protecting our free will and … Read More

Every week the world experiences a new story about the dilemmas in implementing data ethics within the tech industry. It´s becoming a hot topic, and many tech companies have acknowledged that the term data ethics is a parameter in business … Read More

AI decision making systems based on complex data collection and analytics embedded in society are increasingly shaping the opportunities of the human being. Still we do not have standardized ethics and social impact assessments in the design phase of these … Read More

Companies, organisations, goverments and individuals all have a responsibility when it comes to saving our democracy. According to Ulrike Reisach, Professor at the Information Management Department of Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences in Bavaria/Germany, we have a whole lot to … 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

Today elections around the world face problems like violence, corruption, long waiting time, accessibility, affordability and privacy. Blockchain systems promise new opportunities for storing data and securing trust and transparency, but how can they be used to secure elections? Decentralized … Read More

HighLights. Data democracy vs data dictatorship and data monopolies. AI and ethics. Individual data control. These topics went through thorough examination at this year’s DataEthics Forum, where participants from South Africa over the US and all of Europe met and … Read More

Watch DataEthics.eu,  AccessNow, AlgoritmWatch and Element.ai in panel debate at Mozilla Festival 2019 on Governing AI.

Here’s some of the fine recommendations from experts in rights and ethics, law, social science, culture, politics and economy in The Human Brain Project who gathered in March 2019 in Copenhagen to discuss what is needed for AI to be … 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

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