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Privacy Isn't Dead

What Facebook Can Learn From Academia About Protecting Privacy

Alexandra Wood, Harvard University & Micah Altman, MITJune 14, 2018February 19, 2019
Sections
  • Academia
  • Business
  • Science
  • Technology
Topics
  • Academia
  • Big Data
  • Data Privacy
  • Data Sharing
  • Digital Privacy
  • Ethics of Technology
  • Facebook
  • Online & Social Media
  • Privacy
  • Privacy Rights
  • Research Ethics

Facebook is confronting another privacy scandal after it was reported that the company has formal agreements to share user data with at least four Chinese electronics companies, including one flagged as a national security threat to the United States. The latest revelation contributes to a growing unease about how Facebook and other tech companies protect user privacy.

From undisclosed data sharing that puts health and financial information at risk to political ads targeted using unauthorized data, the consequences of big data have become vaster and more threatening than anyone could have imagined. Our research finds traditional approaches to safeguarding privacy stretched to the limit as thousands of data points are collected about each of us every day and maintained indefinitely by a host of technology platforms.

For all our fears, many people have a sense that the erosion of privacy is simply the price we must pay for the benefits of technology. However, the death of privacy is not inevitable, and the proof comes from another field that collects and protects large amounts of sensitive personal information: scientific research.

After facing its own series of ethical crises nearly 50 years ago, particularly the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the scientific community developed a rigorous system for collecting and using research data while protecting the people behind the data. This system of research ethics is a fundamental foundation of modern science, helping academics maintain the trust of the people who participate in their research…

Read the full article online at The Boston Globe…

This article was produced by Footnote in partnership with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. It highlights research from their Privacy Tools Project and was published in The Boston Globe. 

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Contributed by

Alexandra Wood

Alexandra Wood

Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Harvard University

Alexandra Wood is a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. As a contributor to the Privacy Tools for Sharing Research Data project, she explores new and existing legal and regulatory frameworks for data privacy and develops legal instruments to facilitate the sharing and use of research data while preserving privacy, transparency, and accountability. She has a J.D. from George Washington University Law School, an M.P.P. from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in economics from Reed College. 

Micah Altman

Micah Altman

Director of Research and Head/Scientist, Program on Information Science
MIT

Dr. Micah Altman is Director of Research and Head/Scientist of the Program on Information Science for the MIT Libraries at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and a member of Harvard University's Privacy Tools Project, a multidisciplinary effort to advanced understanding of data privacy issues. Micah's research focuses on the intersections of information, technology, privacy, and politics, as well as on the dissemination, preservation, reliability and governance of scientific knowledge. He earned a Ph.D. in Social Science from the California Institute of Technology. 

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