97 Things About Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know

Chapter 34. How to Determine What Data Can Be Used Ethically

Leandre Adifon

VP Engineering & Technology, Ingersoll Rand

Entities such as people, communities, corporations, and so on each have an identity. They have realities, characteristics, and special traits that uniquely qualify them and distinguish them from one another. Such identity defines who they are in the universe of beings. Until recently, before the Big Data revolution that is still unfolding, entities were identified with just a few data points.

For people, it was mainly their first and family names, their place of origin, and maybe their parents’ names and tribe. Leonardo da Vinci, who was born in Anchiano near Vinci in Italy, was well known across history and geographies with respect to his place of origin. Companies may have simply assumed the name of their founder. The means of information dissemination were limited; so, too, was what needed to be known about people, communities, or companies. When we were asked a simple question about who we were, our answer was always limited to a few data points that best described us: our name, place of origin, profession and place of work, and so forth.

The 21st century, however, has seen an explosion of information about everyone and everything, amplified by social media. Data has assumed prime importance. It is collected about everyone and everything. More is known about ...