Ignatian Big Data Ethics

Ignatian Big Data Ethics Here we will provide some Ignatian and CST (Catholic Social Thought) approaches to Big Data Ethics. We will do this in the context of considering three specific recent concerns, compare them to the film Minority Report and analyze them in light of Ignatian values (and also CST), comparing our Ignatian analysis to the ethical awareness framework for Big Data analysis created by IBM UK and Ireland Technical Consultancy Group. Finally, we will present a brief outline of the Big Data Ethics MBA course recently created and taught at our Jesuit Institution. Big Data refers to the extremely large data sets that may be analyzed to reveal patterns, trends and associations, especially with regard to human behavior and interactions. We know facebook, google, amazon, apple and others gain data from us which can then be either used by them, or sold to others. More and more IT investment is going into getting, managing and maintaining big data. But with big data come big ethical questions. These include questions of context, consent and choice, access to data by subject, reasonable use of data, substantiated conclusions from data, ownership, fairness, and potential consequences (unintended or otherwise) and accountability. There has been very little analysis of big data ethics from an Ignatian or Catholic Social Thought point of view. The Jesuit tradition, with its focus on persons and community, as well as the CST tradition, certainly provides some direction for navigating these difficult Big Data questions. Apple Face-recognition technology: We will examine the case of Ousmane Bah, who was arrested on charges of stealing from an Apple store in Boston (a town which he had never been to) on the very night that he was at his prom in Manhattan. NYC police arrested him at 4am at his home, with an arrest warrant obtained based on Apple’s allegations which were based on face recognition technology. Second, we will consider the recent WSJ article “What your Face May Tell Lenders About Whether You’re Creditworthy” which discusses how a Chinese company, Ping An, uses to verify identities as well as to examine expressions for clues about their truthfulness. Third, we will critically look at China’s Social Credit System, which rates a person’s reputation using in part China’s mass surveillance systems to potentially ban some citizens from flying or using the train, throttling your internet speeds, banning your kids from the best schools, keeping you from getting the best jobs or rooms at the best hotels, and potentially even taking away your dog. Our presentation will also provide a brief outline of the Big Data Ethics MBA course offered at our Jesuit Institution. Bibliography Moberg, Dennis and Martin Calkins (2001) “Reflection in Business Ethics: Insights from St. Ignatius ‘ ‘Spiritual Exercises’” Journal of Business Ethics, 33:3 257-270. “Ethics for Big Data and Analytics” “Student Sues Apple for $1 Billion, Blames Face-recognition Tech for False Arrest” “What your Face May Tell Lenders About Whether You’re Creditworthy” “China Has Started Ranking Citizens with a Creepy ‘Social Credit” System—Here’s What You Can Do Wrong, and the Embarassing, Demeaning Ways they Can Punish You” Business Insider