Videos Highlighting Tech, Ethics, Policy, and Governmental Implications
The University of San Francisco (USF) Center for Applied Data Ethics (CADE) recently held a Tech Policy Workshop in November 2019, focusing on key themes and discussions surrounding controversial new uses of technology for tracking or addressing the pandemic. The workshop videos are now available for viewing, offering insights into ethical considerations, policy implications, and the future of technology in public health.
Rumman Chowdhury, the Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied Intelligence, presented a vision of Digital Urban Design as a solution to the surveillance state. This approach aims to merge the digital and analog fabrics in a way that improves citizens' lives, offering a balanced approach to technology adoption.
The workshop featured a panel on Government Policy, discussing the challenges in creating informed tech policy. Panelists included Linda Gerull, Brian Hofer, Lee Hepner, and Heather Patterson, who addressed diverse stakeholders, misaligned Silicon Valley incentives, binary modes of thinking, and more.
Dr. Kristian Lum, an assistant research professor at Penn CIS and the lead statistician at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, discussed fairness, accountability, and transparency in predictive modeling in the criminal justice system. Tawana Petty, Director of the Data Justice Program for the Detroit Community Technology Project, spoke about the impact of race-blind tech policies and digital surveillance on Detroit.
Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, discussed ethical issues in facial recognition research and introduced the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Framework for Ethical Decision-Making. Deven Desai spoke on Law and Data Driven Innovation, offering a way to build trust and success using data and software.
The workshop also touched upon ethical considerations of digital tracking technologies, balancing public health benefits with civil liberties, data governance and security, and explainability and trust in AI systems. These topics align with CADE's mission and the broader tech ethics discourse on pandemic-related technology use.
If you're concerned about the impacts of data misuse and want to get involved with the USF Center for Applied Data Ethics, the posts suggest ways to do so. For more detailed findings or position papers from the 2019 workshop, you might consider contacting the University of San Francisco Center for Applied Data Ethics directly or reviewing their official publications from that year.
You can watch the full playlist of videos from the CADE Tech Policy Workshop here: [link]. The talks by Dr. Kristian Lum, Irina Raicu, Tawana Petty, and Deven Desai are also available for viewing separately.
- The approach presented by Rumman Chowdhury for Digital Urban Design suggests using AI and technology to improve citizens' lives, while offering a balanced approach to adoption and refraining from contributing to a surveillance state.
- The panel on Government Policy at the workshop discussed the difficulties in creating informed tech policy, addressing diverse stakeholders, misaligned Silicon Valley incentives, and binary modes of thinking.
- Irina Raicu, during the workshop, discussed ethical issues in facial recognition research and introduced the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Framework for Ethical Decision-Making, which could potentially be applied to the evaluation of AI-based image analysis systems.
