Author: Shubnam Sharma
Publisher: UKTN
Publication Year: 2021
Summary: In the following article, data ethics deals with the moral obligations of gathering, protecting, and using personally identifiable information, and how it affects individuals. Upon surveying 1,000 British employees working in the field of data analytics, 42% of them said that it is not a priority for them in their careers. This is problematic as experts contend that data ethics should be considered throughout the data lifecycle. Companies that make mistakes regarding data ethics tend to pay the price either through a lawsuit or by a hit to their reputation through bad press. For example, Apple ran into its own problems in 2019 when its credit card offered a lower credit limit to women than men. Neither Apple nor the card issuer, Goldman Sachs, seemed able to explain how the algorithm arrived at that outcome before claiming the algorithm did not use gender as a variable. Overall, the takeaway from this article revolves around the continued work that needs to be done to ensure that data professionals understand the importance of data ethics and subsequently receive training revolving it.