Data Ethics
Data, Technology & Climate Change
The 4000 page landmark @IPCC report demonstrates how human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented ways. Technology helps monitor, measure, analyse, & record climate change precisely, yet also contributes to the vast energy consumption damaging our planet.
Whether sending emails or watching Netflix, the analysis & storage of data comes at great energy cost. The processing necessary to train a “large algorithm”, for instance, can require energy equivalent to nearly 5x the lifecycle emissions of a car.
Reading Challenge. Week 1 Computing Machinery and Intelligence by Alan Turing
The questions that the field of data ethics poses, though complex and difficult, often prove very familiar philosophically. This is extremely fortunate as it means that the rich intellectual histories and traditions of our world’s many cultures, literatures, philosophies, as well as its science are available to aid us.
WEDF2021 Video Release: The Ethics & Future of Data & Technology
Technological mastery without ethical restraint lies at the root of all forms of tyranny
In Conversation with Dr. Natalie Banner: Creating Trustworthiness and Transparency in Health Data
Health data provides an incredibly valuable source of information for researchers, health professionals and those looking to improve public health services. The use and sharing of this data can enable early detection of diseases through diagnosis, the development of new treatments as well as improved standards of health and wellbeing across the population. This being said, health data, in comparison to many other forms of data, can often be extremely sensitive in nature. It is therefore crucial that we have robust ethical policies and regulatory standards in place to protect people's privacy and to uphold patient confidentiality. The implications of the lack of this kind of ethical infrastructure can be very serious and profoundly damaging to people’s relationship with public health services.
As we find ourselves well over a year into the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, maintaining strong relationships between health services and the public has become an increasingly urgent concern. Developing principled ethical guidelines which support transparency and trust around the uses of our health data will be critical in tackling this public health emergency.
The State of the Net by Mikko Hyppönen
The State of the Net by Mikko Hyppönen
Technology shapes the world. The more successful a new technology becomes, the more reliant we will become on it. This has always happened and will continue to happen in the future too. In many ways, the Internet is both the best and worst innovation of our lifetime. How did we get here? Where will we go next?
The Looming Battle Between Technology & Liberty
Define Our Digital Future with the World Ethical Data Forum 2021
What: The World Ethical Data Forum 2021
When: March 17th-19th, 2021
COVID-19 has forced us all, abruptly, to live our lives largely online — from work, finances, education, healthcare, politics, and socializing, hyperconnectivity is now a necessity rather than a choice.
WEDF at Africa Tech Festival
The World Ethical Data Forum Joins Africa Tech Festival to Discuss Combating Internet Misinformation and the Africa Tech Ecosystem
In November 2020, John David Marshall (CEO of the World Ethical Data Forum) joined the Africa Tech Festival to discuss strategies for combating Internet misinformation and the African technological tech ecosystem alongside Tomiwa Aladeko (CEO of Big Cabal Media), Emmanuel Lubanzadio (Head of Public Policy Sub-Saharan Africa at Twitter), and Daniel Kimmage (Principal Deputy Coordinator at the Global Engagement Center at the U.S. Department of State).
WEDF and Luminati Networks to initiate a first-of-its-kind Data Collection Ethical Committee
Luminati Networks initiates a first-of-its-kind Data Collection Ethical Committee with The World Ethical Data Forum
Press Release published by Luminati Networks on January 14, 2021
Recapping Our Year
2020 will be remembered in history not only for the tumultuous series of events and challenges it posed but also as a significant period of change in all of our lives. Across the world, due in no small part to COVID-19, we have witnessed the broad and rapid digitalization of most spheres of life, from the professional to the personal.
The Problem of Data
On September 4th 2020, WEDF's John Marshall gave an introductory talk at London Tech Week's Ethical Data Festival entitled "The Problem of Data". A non-technical survey, this is a direct transcription of a talk that explored the scope and nature of some of the issues around data. Implicating the entire knowledge economy, and embracing ‘fake news,’ media narratives, and the impact of social media quite as naturally as considerations of bias in data analytics or AI, the issues are non-obvious and may in fact be the most important of our age.
Broadcast on September 4th 2020
This is a provisional transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
"The Problem of Data"