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.
Using Student Data Essential for Research that Empower Students
In our nation’s schools, we have seen widespread use of zero tolerance policies that lead to suspension, expulsion, and other extreme disciplinary measures. Do these policies work or do they cause more harm than good? Thanks to research that studied student data over time, we now know that these procedures are not effective in preventing future misbehavior nor improving student outcomes.
19 Times Data Analysis Empowered Students and Schools
Which Students Succeed and Why? “Thoughtful use of education data has tremendous potential to improve and address inequities in America’s education system. Scientists better understand how the brain incorporates new information and skills. Educators have a more accurate sense of student progress and potential risk for dropping out. Students and teachers use more detailed […]
FPF Welcomes New Senior Fellow – Ira Rubinstein
FPF is proud to welcome its newest Senior Fellow, Ira Rubinstein. Ira will be working with FPF staff, fellows and members on a number of cross-Atlantic privacy issues and will be collaborating with EU academics and institutions on projects focused on de-identification, ethics, big data, and other issues. Ira Rubinstein is a Senior Fellow at […]
Algorithmic transparency: Examining from within and without
As the volume of consumer data grows, an increasing number of decisions previously made by humans are now made by algorithms. Many thought leaders have called for algorithmic transparency to ensure that these decisions aren’t leading to unfair or discriminatory outcomes, but algorithmic transparency is tricky to implement. Last December, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill acknowledged […]
Announcing the Launch of ResearchChoices.org
“Research Choices is an important step forward for research companies and will help consumers better understand how data is used to make decisions by a wide range of organizations.” – Jules Polonetsky From the ESOMAR Press Release Amsterdam, January 28, 2016: Top market research agencies comScore, GfK, Kantar, and Nielsen announced today the launch of […]
Leading Research Presented at Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers
On Wednesday evening, the Future of Privacy Forum hosted the Sixth Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers, an annual presentation and discussion of leading privacy research. The top papers, all published in 2015, were selected by a subcommittee from the FPF Advisory Board as the best papers to inform any conversation about regulatory privacy initiatives in Congress, as […]
Privacy Papers for Policymakers
*Update: We will be LIVE-streaming this event! * Live streaming will begin at 5:30 PM ET on Wednesday, January 13th, 2016. CLICK HERE to view the Live Stream. (video and/or audio may appear as “disconnected” until 5 minutes before event begins) The Future of Privacy Forum invites you to “Privacy Papers for Policy Makers” A discussion of […]
Beyond IRBs: Designing Ethical Review Processes for Big Data Research
Kicking off a great event this morning, Beyond IRBs: Designing Ethical Review Processes for Big Data Research, with over 60 of the country’s top academics and industry researchers. Thoughtful Key Note remarks from Professor Ryan Calo, from the University of Washington School of Law, have framed the conversation today around how best to create incentives in […]
A Way Forward for Social Media Research
Few would deny that technology and social media are changing the way we interact. People today can stay in touch with friends on Facebook, share vacation photos on Instagram, follow trends on Twitter, grow their networks on LinkedIn, and explore communities on Reddit. And people are staying connected wherever they go. The Pew Research Center […]
FPF and Washington & Lee University Law School Announce Partnership
DC-BASED PRIVACY THINK TANK FUTURE OF PRIVACY FORUM PARTNERS WITH WASHINGTON and LEE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW TO CREATE UNIQUE ACADEMIC-PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIP Affiliation to Advance Privacy Scholarship, Create Business/Academic Ties, and Incubate Tomorrow’s Privacy Lawyers WASHINGTON, D.C. & LEXINGTON, Va. – Thursday, October 29, 2015 – The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and Washington and […]