Data Ethics

Mar 28 2024

Initial Analysis of the new U.S. governance for Federal Agency use of Artificial Intelligence, including biometrics

Today the Biden-Harris Administration published a Memorandum that sets forth how U.S. Federal Agencies and Executive Departments will govern their use of Artificial Intelligence. The OMB memorandum provides an extensive and in some ways surprising articulation of emergent guardrails around modern AI. There are many points of interest to discuss, but the most striking includes the thread of biometrics systems guidance throughout the memorandum and continuing on in the White House Fact Sheet and associated materials. Additionally, the articulation of minimum practices for safety -impacting and rights- impacting AI will likely become important touch points in regulatory discussions in the U.S. and elsewhere. The guidance represents a significant policy shift for the U.S. Federal government, particularly around biometrics.

Oct 27 2023

Another reminder that student privacy matters: Student doxing through FERPA loopholes

Today Inside Higher Ed wrote an excellent article about the relationship of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the recent doxing of Harvard students. In short, it was easy to dox the students based on information the college published — legally — about them. FERPA was supposed to be the US federal

Sep 08 2023

Announcing Senior Ethics and AI Fellow, Emmi Bane

8 September 2023 The World Privacy Forum is pleased to announce the appointment of Senior Ethics and AI Fellow, Emmi Bane. Emmi has a deep foundation in the construction of consent ecosystems, and is proficient in both their technical implementation and the accompanying policy analysis and considerations. At WPF, her forthcoming research, writing, and analysis

Dec 12 2022

WPF and ADC Launch joint report on the Twin Transition at the OECD Ministerial

13 December, 2022 Gran Canarias, Spain The World Privacy Forum and the Argentina-based Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) today launched the first report in a project on the Twin Transition, green and digital. WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon will present the report, which is global in scope, to at the OECD Ministerial meeting today

Oct 04 2021

WPF presenting at UN World Data Forum High-Level Plenary

WPF’s Executive Director Pam Dixon will be presenting at a High-Level Plenary Session at the UN World Data Forum Tuesday, 5 October on a panel focused on Trust in Data: balancing quality, privacy and transparency. The matter of trust is at the heart of any information system and it has long been a preoccupation of the data community.

New Report: Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new WPF report, “Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools.” This report sets out a definition of AI governance tools, documents why and how these tools are critically important for trustworthy AI, and where these tools are around the world. The report also documents problems in some AI governance tools themselves, and suggests pathways to improve AI governance tools and create an evaluative environment to measure their effectiveness. AI systems should not be deployed without simultaneously evaluating the potential adverse impacts of such systems and mitigating their risks, and most of the world agrees about the need to take precautions against the threats posed. The specific tools and techniques that exist to evaluate and measure AI systems for their inclusiveness, fairness, explainability, privacy, safety and other trustworthiness issues — called in the report collectively AI governance tools – can improve such issues. While some AI governance tools provide reassurance to the public and to regulators, the tools too often lack meaningful oversight and quality assessments. Incomplete or ineffective AI governance tools can create a false sense of confidence, cause unintended problems, and generally undermine the promise of AI systems. The report contains rich background details, use cases, potential solutions to the problems discussed in the report, and a global index of AI Governance Tools.
National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.