4 tools you should take on your not-so-lonely Data Ethics island

Anne Huber, Chief of Staff

In our previous blog, "All you need is (Love,) Transparency, Accountability and Fairness – Your way in on data ethics" we delved into the complex world of data ethics. We gave some starting points for you to navigate information gathering. Building upon that foundation, we now embark on a follow-up journey to help you navigate the intricacies of data ethics further. In this blog, we will introduce four valuable resources that provide insights, guidance, and practical advice in this ever-evolving field.

1. Ethical Impact Assessment: Ethical impact assessments are structured frameworks or checklists that help organisations evaluate the potential ethical implications of their data practices. These assessments enable organisations to identify and mitigate any risks or harms associated with data collection, processing, and use. You can create your own checklists to help your teams adopt ethical practices.

2. Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) or Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA): A privacy impact assessment is a tool used to assess and manage privacy risks associated with data processing activities. It helps organisations identify and address potential privacy concerns, ensuring compliance with relevant data protection regulations and standards. The ICO offers a great template on this: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/accountability-and-governance/data-protection-impact-assessments-dpias/

As I mentioned in my last blog – sign up to their newsletter! Great entertainment on your lonely island.

3. Algorithmic Impact Assessment: Algorithmic impact assessments focus on evaluating the potential biases, discrimination, and unintended consequences that may arise from the use of algorithms, particularly in decision-making processes. These assessments aim to promote fairness, transparency, and accountability in algorithmic systems. If you want to get started, check out events from the Alan Turing Institute: https://www.turing.ac.uk/events

The Alan Turing Institute is the UK's national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. While their primary focus is on research and innovation in data science, they also engage in ethical considerations surrounding data. They explore topics such as algorithmic bias, fairness, and transparency, contributing to the ethical discourse in the field of data science.

4. Data Ethics Frameworks: Various organisations and institutions have developed data ethics frameworks that provide guidelines and principles for ethical data practices. These frameworks offer a structured approach to analysing ethical considerations and making informed decisions regarding data collection, processing, and use. At Profusion we developed the Good Data Guide. If you are thinking about implementing your own Data Ethics framework, have look at our ‘Beyond Compliance’ chapter, this will set you up for a great start: https://www.gooddata.guide/the-good-data-guide#compliance

While this blog is covering assessments and frameworks there are of course more tools to navigate data ethics. Your data teams can look at anonymisation and de-identification tools or bias detection

and mitigation tools. Whatever you do to tackle data ethics, make sure you bring your parasol and a coconut. Because you are in for a ride!