Research often requires using sensitive data to answer important questions. The ethical collection and analysis of personal information can be challenging to do while still protecting the privacy of the implicated individuals, honoring informed consent, and complying with other legal obligations. The technology, policies, and ethical considerations for researchers are constantly shifting, sometimes making it difficult to keep up. That’s why FPF engages stakeholders across academia and industry to produce recommendations, best practices, and ethical review structures that promote responsible research. Our work is centered around streamlining, encouraging, and promoting responsible research that respects essential privacy and ethical considerations throughout the research lifecycle. FPF works with policymakers to develop legislative protections that support effective, responsible research with strong privacy safeguards, including hosting events that allow policymakers and regulators to engage directly with practitioners from academia, advocacy, and industry.
Privacy & Pandemics Virtual Workshop: The Role of Mobile Apps
The Future of Privacy Forum and the Israel Tech Policy Institute recently convened a briefing with experts from government, academia, and leading companies about the use of mobile apps related to the COVID-19 public health crisis, and how data protection and ethics can be managed when sensitive health and location data are collected. The briefing […]
FPF Provides Senate Testimony on Strategies to Mitigate Privacy Risks of Using Data to Combat COVID-19
Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) Senior Counsel Stacey Gray today provided the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation with written testimony, including recommendations based on how experts in the U.S. and around the world are currently mitigating the risks of using data to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. “The collection and use of data, including personal […]
FPF Charts the Role of Mobile Apps in Pandemic Response
Multiple apps and software development kits (SDK) have been deployed to help both private and public entities tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to better understand these technologies, the Future of Privacy Forum has created a comparison chart to contrast the objectives and methods of specific apps and SDKs. The chart compares relevant privacy and […]
FPF Offers New Resources on Privacy and Pandemics
Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) released a collection of new publications and resources to help governments, educators, researchers, companies, and other organizations navigate essential privacy questions regarding the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Global leaders responding to the coronavirus pandemic are increasingly relying on data from individuals and communities to analyze the virus’ […]
Privacy and Pandemics: A Thoughtful Discussion
As the COVID-19 virus spreads, governments, researchers, and healthcare institutions are seeking to obtain and deploy consumer data to track the spread of the virus, deliver emergency supplies, target travel restrictions and quarantines, and develop vaccines and cures. But can data collected from phones, credit cards, and other sources be used in this emergency without […]
A Closer Look at Location Data: Privacy and Pandemics
In this series, Privacy and Pandemics, the Future of Privacy Forum explores the challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis to existing ethical, privacy, and data protection frameworks, and will seek to provide information and guidance to companies and researchers interested in responsible data sharing to support public health response. Future posts will examine pandemic-tracking mobile […]
Navigating Privacy in a Data-Driven World
“What does it mean for people actually working with data, people monitoring data, people analyzing data, people selling data? What does it mean to actually be thinking about privacy as a human right?” Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky posed these questions at the beginning of his keynote, Navigating Privacy in a Data-Driven World: […]
Call for Public Comments: Resources for Companies Sharing Personal Data with Academic Researchers
In June 2019, FPF launched the Corporate-Academic Data Stewardship Research Alliance, a peer-to-peer network of private companies that share the goal of facilitating privacy-protective data sharing between businesses and academic researchers. The Alliance has worked to support data sharing efforts, help address and mitigate challenges that create barriers to sharing, and promote responsible and privacy-protective […]
FPF Submits Written Statement to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Task Force on AI
This week, Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) Senior Counsel and Director of AI & Ethics Brenda Leong submitted a written statement on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning-based applications in financial products and services. Addressed to the House Committee on Financial Services Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, the statement explores how to protect […]
Award-Winning Paper: "Dark Patterns at Scale: Findings from a Crawl of 11K Shopping Websites"
For the tenth year, FPF’s annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers program is presenting award-winning research to lawmakers and regulators. Among the papers to be honored at an event at the Hart Senate Office Building on February 6, 2020 is Dark Patterns at Scale: Findings from a Crawl of 11K Shopping Websites by Arnuesh Mathur, Gunes […]