Keynote by Robert M. Goerge at the 2016 Third International Conference on eDemocracy & eGovernment (ICEDEG) Open data portals are springing up around the world. Municipalities, states and countries have made available data that has never been as accessible to the general public. These data have led to many applications that have informed the public of new urban conditions or provided information to make urban life easier. However, it should be clear that these data have limitations in the effort to solve many urban problems because in may cases they do not provide all of the information that is needed by government and NGOs to get at the cause or at least correlations of the problem at hand. It is still necessary to have access to data that cannot be made public to address some of most serious urban problems. While this seems just to apply to public access, it is also the case that government employees or those with legitimate access to the necessary non-open data lack access because of legal, organizational, privacy, or bureaucratic issues. This limits the promise of increasing data-driven efforts to address the most critical urban issues. Solutions to these problems in the context of ethical behavior will be discussed….(More)”
Critics allege big data can be discriminatory, but is it really bias?
Pradip Sigdyal at CNBC: “…The often cited case of big data discrimination points to a research conducted few years ago by Latanya Sweeny, who heads the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard University.
The case involves Google ad results when searching for certain kinds of names on the internet. In her research, Sweeney found that distinct sounding names often associated with blacks showed up with a disproportionately higher number of arrest record ads compared to white sounding names by roughly 18 percent of the time. Google has since fixed the issue, although they never publicly stated what they did to correct the problem.
The proliferation of big data in the last few years has seen other allegations of improper use and bias. These allegations run the gamut, from online price discrimination and consequences of geographic targeting to the controversial use of crime predicting technology by law enforcement, and lack of sufficient representative[data] sampleused in some public works decisions.
The benefits of big data need to be balanced with the risks associated with applying modern technologies to address societal issues. Yet data advocates believe that democratization of data has in essence givenpower to the people to affect change by transferring ‘tribal knowledge’ from experts to data-savvy practitioners.
Big data is here to stay
According to some advocates, the problem is not so much that ‘big data discriminates’, but that failures by data professionals risk misinterpreting the findings at the heart of data mining and statistical learning. They add that the benefits far outweigh the concerns.
“In my academic research and industry consulting, I have seen tremendous benefits accruing to firms, organizations and consumers alike from the use of data-driven decision-making, data science, and business analytics,” Anindya Ghose, the director of Center for Business Analytics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said.
“To be perfectly honest, I do not at all understand these big-data cynics who engage in fear mongering about the implications of data analytics,” Ghose said.
“Here is my message to the cynics and those who keep cautioning us: ‘Deal with it, big data analytics is here to stay forever’.”…(More)”
A Framework for Understanding Data Risk
Sarah Telford and Stefaan G. Verhulst at Understanding Risk Forum: “….In creating the policy, OCHA partnered with the NYU Governance Lab (GovLab) and Leiden University to understand the policy and privacy landscape, best practices of partner organizations, and how to assess the data it manages in terms of potential harm to people.
We seek to share our findings with the UR community to get feedback and start a conversation around the risk to using certain types of data in humanitarian and development efforts and when understanding risk.
What is High-Risk Data?
High-risk data is generally understood as data that includes attributes about individuals. This is commonly referred to as PII or personally identifiable information. Data can also create risk when it identifies communities or demographics within a group and ties them to a place (i.e., women of a certain age group in a specific location). The risk comes when this type of data is collected and shared without proper authorization from the individual or the organization acting as the data steward; or when the data is being used for purposes other than what was initially stated during collection.
The potential harms of inappropriately collecting, storing or sharing personal data can affect individuals and communities that may feel exploited or vulnerable as the result of how data is used. This became apparent during the Ebola outbreak of 2014, when a number of data projects were implemented without appropriate risk management measures. One notable example was the collection and use of aggregated call data records (CDRs) to monitor the spread of Ebola, which not only had limited success in controlling the virus, but also compromised the personal information of those in Ebola-affected countries. (See Ebola: A Big Data Disaster).
A Data-Risk Framework
Regardless of an organization’s data requirements, it is useful to think through the potential risks and harms for its collection, storage and use. Together with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, we have set up a four-step data risk process that includes doing an assessment and inventory, understanding risks and harms, and taking measures to counter them.
- Assessment – The first step is to understand the context within which the data is being generated and shared. The key questions to ask include: What is the anticipated benefit of using the data? Who has access to the data? What constitutes the actionable information for a potential perpetrator? What could set off the threat to the data being used inappropriately?
- Data Inventory – The second step is to take inventory of the data and how it is being stored. Key questions include: Where is the data – is it stored locally or hosted by a third party? Where could the data be housed later? Who might gain access to the data in the future? How will we know – is data access being monitored?
- Risks and Harms – The next step is to identify potential ways in which risk might materialize. Thinking through various risk-producing scenarios will help prepare staff for incidents. Examples of risks include: your organization’s data being correlated with other data sources to expose individuals; your organization’s raw data being publicly released; and/or your organization’s data system being maliciously breached.
- Counter-Measures – The next step is to determine what measures would prevent risk from materializing. Methods and tools include developing data handling policies, implementing access controls to the data, and training staff on how to use data responsibly….(More)
Big Risks, Big Opportunities: the Intersection of Big Data and Civil Rights
Latest White House report on Big Data charts pathways for fairness and opportunity but also cautions against re-encoding bias and discrimination into algorithmic systems: ” Advertisements tailored to reflect previous purchasing decisions; targeted job postings based on your degree and social networks; reams of data informing predictions around college admissions and financial aid. Need a loan? There’s an app for that.
As technology advances and our economic, social, and civic lives become increasingly digital, we are faced with ethical questions of great consequence. Big data and associated technologies create enormous new opportunities to revisit assumptions and instead make data-driven decisions. Properly harnessed, big data can be a tool for overcoming longstanding bias and rooting out discrimination.
The era of big data is also full of risk. The algorithmic systems that turn data into information are not infallible—they rely on the imperfect inputs, logic, probability, and people who design them. Predictors of success can become barriers to entry; careful marketing can be rooted in stereotype. Without deliberate care, these innovations can easily hardwire discrimination, reinforce bias, and mask opportunity.
Because technological innovation presents both great opportunity and great risk, the White House has released several reports on “big data” intended to prompt conversation and advance these important issues. The topics of previous reports on data analytics included privacy, prices in the marketplace, and consumer protection laws. Today, we are announcing the latest report on big data, one centered on algorithmic systems, opportunity, and civil rights.
The first big data report warned of “the potential of encoding discrimination in automated decisions”—that is, discrimination may “be the inadvertent outcome of the way big data technologies are structured and used.” A commitment to understanding these risks and harnessing technology for good prompted us to specifically examine the intersection between big data and civil rights.
Using case studies on credit lending, employment, higher education, and criminal justice, the report we are releasing today illustrates how big data techniques can be used to detect bias and prevent discrimination. It also demonstrates the risks involved, particularly how technologies can deliberately or inadvertently perpetuate, exacerbate, or mask discrimination.
The purpose of the report is not to offer remedies to the issues it raises, but rather to identify these issues and prompt conversation, research—and action—among technologists, academics, policy makers, and citizens, alike.
The report includes a number of recommendations for advancing work in this nascent field of data and ethics. These include investing in research, broadening and diversifying technical leadership, cross-training, and expanded literacy on data discrimination, bolstering accountability, and creating standards for use within both the government and the private sector. It also calls on computer and data science programs and professionals to promote fairness and opportunity as part of an overall commitment to the responsible and ethical use of data.
Big data is here to stay; the question is how it will be used: to advance civil rights and opportunity, or to undermine them….(More)”
Ethical Reasoning in Big Data
Book edited by Collmann, Jeff, and Matei, Sorin Adam: “This book springs from a multidisciplinary, multi-organizational, and multi-sector conversation about the privacy and ethical implications of research in human affairs using big data. The need to cultivate and enlist the public’s trust in the abilities of particular scientists and scientific institutions constitutes one of this book’s major themes. The advent of the Internet, the mass digitization of research information, and social media brought about, among many other things, the ability to harvest – sometimes implicitly – a wealth of human genomic, biological, behavioral, economic, political, and social data for the purposes of scientific research as well as commerce, government affairs, and social interaction. What type of ethical dilemmas did such changes generate? How should scientists collect, manipulate, and disseminate this information? The effects of this revolution and its ethical implications are wide-ranging.
This book includes the opinions of myriad investigators, practitioners, and stakeholders in big data on human beings who also routinely reflect on the privacy and ethical issues of this phenomenon. Dedicated to the practice of ethical reasoning and reflection in action, the book offers a range of observations, lessons learned, reasoning tools, and suggestions for institutional practice to promote responsible big data research on human affairs. It caters to a broad audience of educators, researchers, and practitioners. Educators can use the volume in courses related to big data handling and processing. Researchers can use it for designing new methods of collecting, processing, and disseminating big data, whether in raw form or as analysis results. Lastly, practitioners can use it to steer future tools or procedures for handling big data. As this topic represents an area of great interest that still remains largely undeveloped, this book is sure to attract significant interest by filling an obvious gap in currently available literature. …(More)”
The Open Data Barometer (3rd edition)
The Open Data Barometer: “Once the preserve of academics and statisticians, data has become a development cause embraced by everyone from grassroots activists to the UN Secretary-General. There’s now a clear understanding that we need robust data to drive democracy and development — and a lot of it.
Last year, the world agreed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — seventeen global commitments that set an ambitious agenda to end poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change by 2030. Recognising that good data is essential to the success of the SDGs, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and the International Open Data Charter were launched as the SDGs were unveiled. These alliances mean the “data revolution” now has over 100 champions willing to fight for it. Meanwhile, Africa adopted the African Data Consensus — a roadmap to improving data standards and availability in a region that has notoriously struggled to capture even basic information such as birth registration.
But while much has been made of the need for bigger and better data to power the SDGs, this year’s Barometer follows the lead set by the International Open Data Charter by focusing on how much of this data will be openly available to the public.
Open data is essential to building accountable and effective institutions, and to ensuring public access to information — both goals of SDG 16. It is also essential for meaningful monitoring of progress on all 169 SDG targets. Yet the promise and possibilities offered by opening up data to journalists, human rights defenders, parliamentarians, and citizens at large go far beyond even these….
At a glance, here are this year’s key findings on the state of open data around the world:
- Open data is entering the mainstream.The majority of the countries in the survey (55%) now have an open data initiative in place and a national data catalogue providing access to datasets available for re-use. Moreover, new open data initiatives are getting underway or are promised for the near future in a number of countries, including Ecuador, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Nepal, Thailand, Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. Demand is high: civil society and the tech community are using government data in 93% of countries surveyed, even in countries where that data is not yet fully open.
- Despite this, there’s been little to no progress on the number of truly open datasets around the world.Even with the rapid spread of open government data plans and policies, too much critical data remains locked in government filing cabinets. For example, only two countries publish acceptable detailed open public spending data. Of all 1,380 government datasets surveyed, almost 90% are still closed — roughly the same as in the last edition of the Open Data Barometer (when only 130 out of 1,290 datasets, or 10%, were open). What is more, much of the approximately 10% of data that meets the open definition is of poor quality, making it difficult for potential data users to access, process and work with it effectively.
- “Open-washing” is jeopardising progress. Many governments have advertised their open data policies as a way to burnish their democratic and transparent credentials. But open data, while extremely important, is just one component of a responsive and accountable government. Open data initiatives cannot be effective if not supported by a culture of openness where citizens are encouraged to ask questions and engage, and supported by a legal framework. Disturbingly, in this edition we saw a backslide on freedom of information, transparency, accountability, and privacy indicators in some countries. Until all these factors are in place, open data cannot be a true SDG accelerator.
- Implementation and resourcing are the weakest links.Progress on the Barometer’s implementation and impact indicators has stalled or even gone into reverse in some cases. Open data can result in net savings for the public purse, but getting individual ministries to allocate the budget and staff needed to publish their data is often an uphill battle, and investment in building user capacity (both inside and outside of government) is scarce. Open data is not yet entrenched in law or policy, and the legal frameworks supporting most open data initiatives are weak. This is a symptom of the tendency of governments to view open data as a fad or experiment with little to no long-term strategy behind its implementation. This results in haphazard implementation, weak demand and limited impact.
- The gap between data haves and have-nots needs urgent attention.Twenty-six of the top 30 countries in the ranking are high-income countries. Half of open datasets in our study are found in just the top 10 OECD countries, while almost none are in African countries. As the UN pointed out last year, such gaps could create “a whole new inequality frontier” if allowed to persist. Open data champions in several developing countries have launched fledgling initiatives, but too often those good open data intentions are not adequately resourced, resulting in weak momentum and limited success.
- Governments at the top of the Barometer are being challenged by a new generation of open data adopters. Traditional open data stalwarts such as the USA and UK have seen their rate of progress on open data slow, signalling that new political will and momentum may be needed as more difficult elements of open data are tackled. Fortunately, a new generation of open data adopters, including France, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, South Korea and the Philippines, are starting to challenge the ranking leaders and are adopting a leadership attitude in their respective regions. The International Open Data Charter could be an important vehicle to sustain and increase momentum in challenger countries, while also stimulating renewed energy in traditional open data leaders….(More)”
Big data privacy: the datafication of personal information
Jens-Erik Mai in The Information Society: “In the age of big data we need to think differently about privacy. We need to shift our thinking from definitions of privacy (characteristics of privacy) to models of privacy (how privacy works). Moreover, in addition to the existing models of privacy—surveillance model and capture model, we need to also consider a new model —the datafication model presented in this paper, wherein new personal information is deduced by employing predictive analytics on already-gathered data. These three models of privacy supplement each other; they are not competing understandings of privacy. This broadened approach will take our thinking beyond current preoccupation with whether or not individuals’ consent was secured for data collection to privacy issues arising from the development of new information on individuals’ likely behavior through analysis of already collected data – this new information can violate privacy but does not call for consent….(More)”
EU e-Government Action Plan 2016-2020. Accelerating the digital transformation of government
Q and A: “The e-Government Action Plan includes 20 initiatives to be launched in 2016 and 2017 (full list). Several of them aim to accelerate the implementation of existing legislation and related take-up of online public services. The Commission will notably support the transition of Member States towards full e-procurement, use of contract registers and interoperable e-signatures.
Another part of this set of initiatives focuses on cross-border digital public services. For example, the Commission will submit a proposal to create a Single Digital Gateway as a one-stop entry point for business and people to all Digital Single Market related information, assistance, advice and problem-solving services and making sure that the most frequently used procedures for doing business across borders can be completed fully online. The ESSI (Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information) will help national administrations to electronically share personal social information between Member States, thereby making it easier for people to live and work across borders.
Finally, the action plan aims to ensure that high-quality digital public services are designed for users and encourage their participation.
The plan will be regularly reviewed and if needed completed. An online platform for users will ensure that ideas and feedback are collected.
What is the “once-only” principle?
The “once-only” principle means that citizens and businesses should supply the same information only once to a public administration. Public administration internally shares this data, so that no additional burden falls on citizens and businesses. It calls for a reorganisation of public sector internal processes, rather than forcing businesses and citizens to fit around these processes.
The Commission will launch a pilot project with Member States to apply once-only principle across borders, with €8 million funding from Horizon 2020. This pilot will test out a technical once-only solution for businesses working in different EU Member States. Another activity will explore the once-only concept for citizens, and support networking and discussions on how this could be implemented, in due respect of the legal framework on personal data protection and privacy.
What is the digitisation of company law?
A number of EU company rules were conceived in a pre-digital era, when every form had to be completed on paper. As a result, many companies cannot fully benefit from digital tools where it comes to fulfilling company law requirements or interacting with business registers because many of the rules and processes are still paper-based.
The Commission will work on ways to achieve simpler and less burdensome solutions for companies, by facilitating the use of digital solutions throughout a company’s lifecycle in the interaction between companies and business registers, including in cross-border situations.
For instance, in order to set up as a company in a Member State, it is necessary to register that company in a business register. The Commission will look at how and in what ways online registration procedures could be made available in order to reduce the administrative burden and costs of founding a new company. Also, under EU law, companies are obliged to file a number of documents and information in business registers. Cost and time savings for companies could be generated through better use of digital tools when a company needs to submit and disclose new documents or up-date those throughout its lifecycle, for instance when the company name changes.
How will the Single Digital Gateway help European businesses and citizens?
The Single Digital Gateway will link up (not replace) relevant EU and national websites, portals, assistance services and procedures in a seamless and user-friendly way. Over time it will offer users a streamlined, comprehensive portal to find information, initiate and complete transactions with Member States’ administrations across the EU. The most frequently used administrative procedures will be identified and be brought fully online, so that no offline steps like printing and sending documents on paper will be needed.
This will save time and thereby costs for businesses and citizens when they want to engage in cross-border activities like setting up a business, exporting, moving or studying in another EU Member State.
How will interconnecting businesses registers, insolvency registers, and making the e-Justice portal a one-stop shop for justice help businesses?
These initiatives will help businesses trade within the EU with much more confidence. Not only will they be able to find the relevant information on other businesses themselves, but also on their possible insolvency, through the different interconnections of registers. This will increase transparency and enhance confidence in the Digital Single Market.
Interconnecting business registers will also ensure that business registers can communicate to each other electronically in a safe and secure way and that information is up-to-date without any additional red tape for companies.
The European e-Justice Portal provides a lot of additional information in case of problems, including tools to find a lawyer or notary, and tools for the exercise of their rights. It gives businesses easy access to information needed before entering into a business arrangement, as well as the confidence that if things go wrong, a solution is near at hand…. (More)”
Data protection laws around the world
Fifth edition Handbook by DLA Piper’s Data Protection and Privacy practice: “More than ever it is crucial that organisations manage and safeguard personal information and address their risks and legal responsibilities in relation to processing personal data, to address the growing thicket of applicable data protection legislation.
A well‑constructed and comprehensive compliance program can solve these competing interests and is an important risk‑management tool.
This handbook sets out an overview of the key privacy and data protection laws and regulations across nearly 100 different jurisdictions and offers a primer to businesses as they consider this complex and increasingly important area of compliance….(More)”
A ‘design-thinking’ approach to governing the future
Bronwyn van der Merwe at The Hill: “…Government organizations are starting to realize the benefits of digital transformation to reinvent the citizen experience in the form of digital services tailored to individual needs. However, public service leaders are finding that as they move further into the digital age, they need to re-orient their internal organizations around this paradigm shift, or their investments in digital are likely to fail. This is where Design Thinking comes into play.
Design Thinking has become a proven approach to reimagining complex service or organizational issues in the private sector. This approach of user research, rapid prototyping, constant feedback and experimentation is starting to take hold in leading business, like Citrix Systems, Ebay and Google, and is slowly spilling over into government bodies.
Challenges to Adopting a Design-Led Approach
Success in implementing Design Thinking depends on disrupting embedded organizational beliefs and practices, including cultural shifts, changing attitudes toward risk and failure, and encouraging openness and collaboration. Specifically, government bodies need to consider:
- Top to bottom support – any change as wide-ranging as the shift to Design Thinking requires support from the top. Those at the top of design-led organizations need to be experimenters, improvisers and networkers who lead by example and set the tone for change on the ground.
- Design skills gap – talent to execute innovation is in short supply and few governments are in a financial position to outbid private sector firms on pay. But the public sector does have something to offer that private companies most often do not: the ability to do meaningful work for the public good. Public sector bodies also need to upskill their current employees – at times partnering with outside design experts.
- No risk, no reward – for government agencies, it can be challenging to embrace a culture of trial and error. But Design Thinking is useless without Design Doing. Agencies need to recognize the benefits of agile prototyping, iterating and optimizing processes, and that failings early on can save millions while costing little.
What Can Government Bodies Do to Change?
Digital has paved the way for governments and the private sector to occasionally partner to solve thorny challenges. For instance, the White House brought together the U.N. Refugee Agency and crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to raise money for the Syrian relief effort. The weeklong partnership raised nearly $1.8 million for more than 7,000 people in need.
But to effectively communicate with today’s digitally-enabled citizens, there are several key principals government bodies must follow:
- Plain and simple – use simple language focused on content, structure, navigation, grouping and completion. Strip away the bureaucratic, government-speak and be transparent.
- Take an outside-in design approach – by considering the entire ecosystem, and using research to uncover insights, service design reveals an outside-in view of the people in the entire ecosystem.
- Be sensitive – too many government services, tools and processes are opaque and cumbersome when dealing with sensitive issues, such as immigration, making a tax submission, or adopting a child. Fjord recently took a human-centered design framework to the State of Michigan by designing a system that allowed caseworkers to convey the fairness of a child support order, while delivering excellent customer service and increasing transparency and accuracy to families in the midst of an emotionally-charged separation.
- Work to digitize processes and services across departments – Governments should look to organize their digital services around the needs of the people – whether they are starting a business, retiring or having a child – rather than around their own departmental structures.
- Address privacy concerns – The assurance of privacy and security is a critical step to encourage adoption of digital channels….(More)”