Data responsibility: a new social good for the information age

Stefaan G. Verhulst in The Conversation Global and at TedX MidAtlantic: “…What is less discussed, however, is that most data remains locked up and proprietary, the private property of companies, governments and other organisations. This limits its public benefits.
Data responsibility can help organisations break down these private barriers and share their proprietary data for the public good. In the case of the private sector, in particular, it represents a type of corporate social responsibility for the 21st century….
Such examples show us that data can improve and even save lives. But in order to fully harness the potential of data, three conditions must be fulfilled. They comprise the three pillars of data responsibility.
1. A duty to share
This is perhaps the most evident duty: to share private data when it’s clear that it will serve the public good. Secondary use is not always popular among data holders (often for good reasons) but when done correctly, data sharing can have powerful social benefits, as illustrated above.
2. A duty to protect
Sharing does involve risks, notably to privacy, security and other individual rights. So it is imperative that organisations share responsibly, with every effort to protect both the data itself and the individuals who have surrendered their data (even if often unwittingly).
The consequences of failing to protect data have now been well-documented. The most obvious problems occur when data is not properly anonymised before it is shared, or when de-anonymised data otherwise leaks into the public domain.
Ostensibly anonymised data may itself also be susceptible to de-anonymisation, wherein information released for the public good ends up causing individual harm.For example,…
Thus the good intentions guiding data releases must be accompanied by a powerful sense of responsibility at every stage of the information chain, from data collection, processing and analysing to sharing and use.
3. A duty to act
For released data to serve the public good, officials and others must also adopt policies and interventions based on insights gained from its release. Without action, the potential remains just that — potential….(Full post)