2018 ETHICS OF BIG DATA SYMPOSIUM

The emerging world of big data brings with it ethical, social and legal issues. Are you prepared to navigate the challenges and the opportunities?

The deployment of big data brings desirable opportunities to understand, recommend and advise. But the sensitivity of personal data and unintended consequences of algorithmic decisions present us with ethical and moral decisions. The symposium covered ethical and legal considerations for practitioners, including discussions and dilemmas of agency, fairness, public perception and privacy.

2018 Event Schedule

(Note: this event is closed)

Time

Event and Session Details

8:00 a.m.

Registration

8:45

Welcome

A few welcoming words from Dave Pahl from Northwestern Mutual and Dr. Tom Kaczmarek from Marquette University.

9:00

Influence of technology, culture and political systems on legal privacy as exemplified by the US, EU and China

Presenters:

  • Charlotte A. Tschider, DePaul University College of Law
  • Bruce Boyden, Marquette Law
10:15 

Break

10:30 

Keynote: Awakening to the Privacy Risks Associated with Big Data

Presenter: Jody Westby, GCR & Georgia Tech

 11:30  

Data Science Oath critical review (Katherine), discussion (Joe, Justin, and Drew) and small group exercise--all based on National Academy of Science proposed Oath for Data Science

Presenters:

  • Katherine Rickus- Marquette, Philosophy
  • Joseph Coelho, Justin Miller, and Drew Williams - Marquette University
12:30 p.m.

Panel Reflections

Panel Members:

  • Michael Zimmer (moderator), University-Wisconsin Milwaukee
  • Barrett McCormick- Marquette University Political Science
  • Cheri McCourt - Northwestern Mutual
  • Randy Kirk- Direct Supply

 


Awakening to the Privacy Risks Associated with Big Data

Finally, the American public is starting to realize the privacy risks associated with Big Data.  The ability to push data through algorithms for predictive and analytical purposes is driving the advertising industry and providing marketing and business development professionals with new strategic directions.  The revelations about the Russian’s use of social media platforms in an attempt to influence the thinking and actions of millions of Americans was the Great American Wake-up Call.  

The furor over the collection and use of Facebook user data for political purposes has resulted in Congressional hearings, regulatory investigations around the globe, action by state attorneys general, and lawsuits.  The conversation is only beginning.  It is important that academia and industry take a lead in providing frameworks for the ethical use of data before legislators and regulators do it for them. 

There are lessons to be learned from ethical requirements associated with human subject data and work that has been performed by the cybersecurity research community.  This presentation examined these issues and presented potential pathways to balancing the productive and innovative use of Big Data with privacy considerations.


About the Guest Speakers

Keynote Speaker Jody R. Westby is the CEO at Global Cyber Risk LLC. Drawing upon a unique combination of more than twenty years of technical, legal, policy, and business experience, Ms. Westby provides consulting and legal services to public and private sector clients around the world in the areas of privacy, security, cybercrime, breach management, and IT governance. She also serves as Adjunct Professor to the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Computer Science and is a professional blogger for Forbes. 

Ms. Westby led the development of the International Toolkit on Cybercrime Legislation and is an editor and co-author of the 2010 WFS-ITU publication, The Quest for Cyber Peace. Ms. Westby is co-author and editor of four books on privacy, security, cybercrime, and enterprise security programs and author of two books on legal issues associated with cybersecurity research, all published by the ABA. She speaks globally on these issues.

Charlotte A. Tschider is the Jaharis Faculty Fellow in Health Law and Intellectual Property for the DePaul University College of Law and was most recently Lead Affiliated Professor for the Mitchell Hamline School of Law’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Law program. Tschider is a Fulbright Specialist in cybersecurity and privacy law and advises Medtronic, Inc., on international health and medical device privacy strategy, big data, and artificial intelligence initiatives. Tschider is author of International Cybersecurity and Privacy Law in Practice (Wolters Kluwer 2018).

Bruce Boyden is an Associate Professor at Marquette University Law School. He teaches and writes in the areas of copyright, Internet law, privacy, legal history, and civil procedure. His scholarship focuses on the effect of technological change on the evolution of legal doctrine. Prior to joining the faculty at Marquette, Bruce was a visiting professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law and at Michigan State University College of Law. Before that, he was in private practice for several years with the law firm Proskauer Rose LLP, where his practice focused on copyright, privacy, digital rights management, and Internet law.

Dr. Katherine Rickus is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Marquette. She holds degrees in Psychology, Medicine, and Philosophy. She has cross academic appointments at Marquette and the Medical College of Wisconsin, a practicing clinician specializing in Psychiatry, and a founder of the Initiative For Collaborative Research Across Medicine and the Humanities (ICRAMH) at Marquette. She is also one of the organizers for this symposium.

Michael Zimmer, PhD, is a privacy and internet ethics scholar, whose work focuses on digital privacy, the ethical dimensions of social media & internet technologies, libraries & privacy, and internet research ethics. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Information Policy Research.


 

Additional Information

For additional information about this event, contact Dr. Thomas Kaczmarek at thomas.kaczmarek@marquette.edu or 414-288-6734.

This symposium was sponsored by the Center for Cyber Security Awareness and Cyber Defense and hosted by Northwestern Mutual. Additional support was provided by Kohls and Uline.


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