Privacy & Safety

I like that it is safer to go to a bank nowadays, but I wouldn’t want the penalty that seems to be in China connected to being filmed walking through the red light. There it seems according to the news that walking through red can cost credit scores. This means not being able to buy a home, go on vacations, study, etc. 

Privacy & Research

Most research done are marketing research. Not all of them ask for consent to collect data. Depending on the research this could be a problem with privacy. Think about scandals Like Google, Facebook, Cambridge Analytics, etc.

Privacy & Ethical Research

In most ethical research like medical research the participants must fill in an inform consent. In the inform consent I can find:

• What the research is about

• How the ethical commission judges the research

• Which data is collected from me and how?

• What will happen with the data that will be collected from me

• How long my data will be stored

• Which functions will be handling my data (not always)?

• How my privacy is handled and anonymized during the research

• I will be told how and when to participate

• How I can resign my participation from the research

• If I as a participant am paid to participate, I am told how much and sign for it

• I sign the inform consent to participate

• I can get the results of the research. Sometimes even my own individual results

• How the results will be shared (not always)

Privacy & Big Data

Big Data researchers mostly use data that is found somewhere in the organization or combine studies. These data were stored for another study or a by product of another study. These studies had an informed consent from the participants most of the time, but not for a next study probably. Sometimes another study is added to enrich the question of the original study. This can mean discovering a new medicine or solving a cold case. Is it necessary to ask again to the participants to use their data? Is it possible to ask them because the data is supposed to be anonymized?

Privacy & Ethics

If data doesn’t contain personal information than why not use it for the greater good. If it contains personal data who is responsible for securing the anonymization or checking if the use is ethical. Is the person participating in the research the one to ask for permission? It could cost lots of money and mean losing lots of data, because not all participants can be found or will give permission. It can also cost lots of time which companies and researcher have a lack in nowadays. A more realistic option would be asking the gatekeepers of the research if the research can be expanded. The gatekeepers are:

• The ethical commission

• The data manager

• The manager most of the time.

Almost never the researcher because the researcher can’t be impartial.