Personal Data, Big Data and Ethics

Ann, yes I understand, and I do hope that this is becoming as pervasive and powerfull as a concept as "privacy by design" has been and still is.

Jacques, as you know, I always like to have much-needed protections proactively embedded into design, such as the design of emerging technologies like AI. So I focussed on AI principles that addressed the need for transparency, accountablilty, ethics, bias, data protection, etc.in my AI Ethics by Design. And I just read an interesting article that Microsoft is creating an "oracle" for "catching biased AI algorithms." So hopefully this will lead to more people "looking under the hood" so to speak,when it comes to examining largely-invisible AI algorithms.

We see a lot of similarity in the principles I suggested above and those proposed by Ann. Mine are a bit more general societal oriented and formulated, Ann's are somewhat more specifically addressing the designers of systems with principles for AI Ethics by Design.

An important contribution on AI Ethics by Design by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Distinguished Expert-in-Residence, Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence, Ryerson University

1 – Transparency and accountability of algorithms essential;

2 – Ethical principles applied to the treatment of personal data;

3 – Algorithmic oversight and responsibility must be assured;

4 – Respect for privacy as a fundamental human right;

5 – Data protection/personal control via privacy as the default;

6 – Proactively identify the security risks, thereby minimizing the harms;

7 – Strong documentation to facilitate ethical design and data symmetry.

ann.cavoukian@ryerson.ca

www.ryerson.ca/pbdce