Chapter 7: Data Privacy, Internet Politics, and Ethics

Question 1

Terminological Fundamentals - data protection

Answer 1

• Data protection, in narrower sense, is the protection of personal data at manual or automatic data procession. Natural persons shall be protected from undesirable effects of stored data. (Krcmar)

Question 2

What do we mean by Privacy?

Answer 2

• Louis Brandeis (1890)
  
  • “right to be left alone”
  • protection from institutional threat: government, press
• Alan Westin(1967)
  
  • “right to control, edit, manage, and delete information about themselves and decide when, how, and to what extent information is communicated to others”

Question 3

Privacy vs. Security

Answer 3

Privacy: what information goes where?

Security: protection against unauthorized access

• Security helps enforce privacy policies
• Can be at odds with each other
  
  • e.g., invasive screening to make us more “secure” against terrorism

Question 4

Privacy-sensitive Information

Answer 4

• Identity
  
  • name, address, social security number, birthplace, genetic information…
• Location
• Activity
  
  • web history, contact history, online purchases
• Health records
• …and more

Question 5

Privacy in the Web 2.0 Era

Answer 5

• A taxonomy of social network information
  
  • Service data: Data you give to a social networking site in order to use it
  • Disclosed data: Data you post on your own pages
  • Entrusted data: Data you post on other people’s pages that you lose control over once you post it
  • Incidental data: Data people post about you
  • Behavioral data: Data the site collects about your habits via behavior on the service
  • Derived data: Data about you that is derived from all the other data
• 3 sources of data – User himself, Other users, from Inference Privacy can be compromised from any of these 3 sources

Question 6

Why, when and what to disclose?

Answer 6

• It is not a simple question!
• Tradeoff between functionality
• Also important whom to disclose it to?
  
  • Relatives
  • Co-workers
  • Friends
• People want to disclose only what is useful

Question 7

Data Protection Measures

Answer 7

• Political/legal principles
  
  • Relevance
  • Publicity (right to information)
  • Accuracy
  • Restriction of dissemination
  • Separation of functions
  • Obligation to enforce data protection measures
  • Obligation to maintain confidentiality
  • Establishment of discrete checking devices
  • International data traffic
• Technical/organizational measures
  • Access control (location)
  • Access control (information)
  • Dissemination control
  • Input control
  • Order control
  • Availability control
  • Separate processing

Question 8

Legal Foundations in Germany

Answer 8

• EC Data Protection Directive (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/index_en.htm)
  
  • For entities collecting data
  • For individuals (know your rights!)
  • Different organizations for protection
• Federal Data Protection Law (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG)
• Country specific Data Protection Laws
• Area specific regulations:
  
  • Code of Social Law
  • Telecommunications Act
  • Telemedia Act

Question 9

The federal data protection law (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz)

Answer 9

• Purpose of this law is to protect individuals from a derogation of its personal rights, due to the handling of its personal data. (§1 para. 1 BDSG)
• Derivation of personal rights from the basic liberties of the constitution (article 1 and 2 GG)
• The basic right guarantees an individuals authority, to decide upon the disclosure and usage of its personal data.

Question 10

Functions of the State within Internet Politics

Answer 10

• Freedom and adjustment function
• Protection and warranty function
• Supply and innovation function

Question 11

Relationship between Internet / ICT and Politics

Answer 11

Three models:

• Managerial model
  
  • improving flows of information within and around the state
  • ‘control’ as defining logic
  • importance of ‘service delivery’
  • speeding up of information provision is ‘opening up’ government
  • regulatory, law making; responding to the needs of the ‘new economy’
• Consultative model
  
  • polling, access of voters and other interested parties to government, representation of views, advisory referendums
  • ‘push-button democracy’, ‘e-voting’ - direct democracy - instantaneous opinion polling
  • access as a technical issue - problems of self-selection of citizen respondents
• Participatory model
  
  • voluntary associations, spontaneous interactions within cyber-space
  • access is enough to encourage wider political participation
  • state protects free speech and rights of expression

Question 12

Net Neutrality

Answer 12

Question 13

Understanding Ethical and Social Issues Related to Systems

Answer 13

• Ethics
  
  • Principles of right and wrong that individuals, acting as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide their behaviors
  • A code or collection of principles to distinguish between the right and the wrong; to be applied to any judgement, action or behavior.
  • Ethics reflects our basic values, priorities and ideals.
  • The networked world poses many ethical challenges towards individuals, businesses, government and the society.
• Recent cases of failed ethical judgment in business

Question 14

Five Moral Dimensions – A Model

Answer 14

Question 15

Model for thinking about ethical, social, political issues

Answer 15

• Society as a calm pond
• IT as rock dropped in pond, creating ripples of new situations not covered by old rules
• Social and political institutions cannot respond overnight to these ripples
• it may take years to develop etiquette, expectations, laws
  
  • Requires understanding of ethics to make choices in legally gray areas

Question 16

Basic concepts for ethical analysis

Answer 16

• Responsibility:
  
  • Accepting the potential costs, duties, and obligations for decisions
• Accountability:
  
  • Mechanisms for identifying responsible parties
• Liability:
  
  • Permits individuals (and firms) to recover damages done to them
• Dueprocess:
  
  • Laws are well known and understood, with an ability to appeal to higher authorities

Question 17

Ethical analysis: A five-step process

Answer 17

1. Identify and clearly describe the facts
2. Define the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher- order values involved
3. Identify the stakeholders
4. Identify the options that you can reasonably take
5. Identify the potential consequences of your options

Question 18

Six Ethical Principles

Answer 18

1. Golden Rule
   
   • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!
2. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative
   
   • If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone!
3. Descartes’ Rule of Change
   
   • If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all!
4. Utilitarian Principle
   
   • Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value!
5. Risk Aversion Principle
   
   • Take the action that produces the least harm or least potential cost!
6. Ethical “no free lunch” Rule
   
   • Assume that virtually all tangible and intangible objects are owned by someone unless there is a specific declaration otherwise!