Perhaps surprisingly – given that its title was “Digital ethics” – last week’s SOCITM panel session spent a lot of time exploring things that aren’t “digital”. Although the discussion focussed on local government, a lot of the ideas seemed relevant to education, too. Don’t be solutionist: technology might not be the right option. When identifying […]
Month: September 2020
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Watch this space
Thinking through an idea that occurred to me during our SOCITM ShareNational panel on ethical use of data and technology. What happens if we explicitly think about “our spaces, which people use”, rather than “people that use our spaces”? That may seem like a semantic quibble, but I think it leads in three interesting directions: […]
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Is our technology comforting?
When I was invited to join a panel at the SOCITM ShareNational event for local government I presumed my role was to provide a different, external, perspective on “Ethical Use of Emerging Technologies and Data”. So I offered to contribute a five-minute “sparkler” introduction: a bit of illumination, some striking of ideas, maybe a smile. […]
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Framing the Algorithm
A panel on Algorithms at the UK IGF asked whether the summer of 2020 was a catastrophe – “mutant algorithm” having entered political discourse – or an opportunity to work with a population that is now much more aware of the personal significance of the debate? “Transparency” is often cited as a remedy, but we […]
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Intelligent Campus DPIA Toolkit
I’m pleased to announce the publication of our Intelligent Campus Data Protection Impact Assessment Toolkit. Intelligent Campuses use existing data and new sensors to deliver better places to study, work, live and socialise. But there’s a risk with any use of data or sensors that even the best-intentioned ideas will be misused or misunderstood: as […]
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Building Trust in a Digital Identity
A panel on “Building Trust in a Digital Identity” at the UK IGF may have raised more questions than answers, but at least highlighted why doing so is taking so long. Since terminology can be confusing, what was being discussed was how to prove facts about your real-world self to an online service: for example […]
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Thinking creatively about COVID-19
Lilian Edwards gave a fascinating keynote at the UK IGF this morning, on Protecting Digital Rights During a Pandemic. Though privacy is the most often discussed right in the context of pandemic response, rights of free speech and free assembly also need to be borne in mind. Although the impact of national schemes (contact tracing […]
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Brexit in 58 seconds…
Colleagues set me the challenge of saying something about my work in one minute. So here (on YouTube) is a “peacast” – my wife says it’s too small to be a “podcast” – on Brexit and GDPR: Comments very welcome on the format and, if you like it, suggestions for any other topics I could […]