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.
Thoughts on the Data Innovation Pledge
Yesterday, as he accepted the IAPP Privacy Vanguard award, Intel’s David Hoffman made a “data innovation pledge” that he would work only to promote ethical and innovative uses of data. As someone who only relatively recently entered the privacy world by diving headfirst into the sea of challenges surrounding big data, I think an affirmative […]
FTC Wants Tools to Increase Transparency and Trust in Big Data
However we want to define “Big Data” – and the FTC’s latest workshop on the subject suggests a consensus definition remains elusive – the path forward seems to call for more transparency and the establishment of firmer frameworks on the use of data. As Chairwoman Ramirez suggested in her opening remarks, Big Data calls for […]
Big Data: A Tool for Fighting Discrimination and Empowering Groups
Big Data: A Tool for Fighting Discrimination and Empowering Groups Even as big data uses are examined for evidence of facilitating unfair and unlawful discrimination, data can help to fight discrimination. It is already being used in myriad ways to protect and to empower vulnerable groups in society. In partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, FPF […]
Big Data: A Benefit and Risk Analysis
On September 11, 2014, FPF released a whitepaper we hope will help to frame the big data conversation moving forward and promote better understanding of how big data can shape our lives. Big Data: A Benefit and Risk Analysis provides a practical guide for how benefits can be assessed in the future, but they also show how […]
FERPA | SHERPA: Providing a Guide to Education Privacy Issues
Education is changing. New technologies are allowing information to flow within classrooms, school, and beyond, enabling new learning environments and new tools to understanding and improve the way teachers teach and students learn. At the same time, however, the confluence of enhanced data collection with highly sensitive information children and teens also makes for a […]
Comments to NTIA on Big Data and Privacy
Today, FPF submitted comments to the NTIA as it begins its exploration of how big data impact the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. While the NTIA sought comment on over a dozen key questions, our filing focus largely on four issues: (1) the need for additional clarity surrounding the flexible application of the Consumer Privacy […]
"Gambling? In This Casino?" Jules and Omer on the Facebook Experiment
Today, Re/code ran an essay by Jules Polonetsky and Omer Tene, offering their take on the Facebook’s now-infamous experiment looking at the effects of tweaking the amount of positive or negative comments on a user’s News Feed: As the companies that serve us play an increasingly intimate role in our lives, understanding how they shape […]
Making Perfect De-Identification the Enemy of Good De-Identification
This week, Ann Cavoukian and Dan Castro waded into the de-identification debate with a new whitepaper, arguing that the risk of re-identification has been greatly exaggerated and that de-identification will play a central role in the age of big data. FPF has repeatedly called for the need for informed conversations about what practical de-identification requires, […]
Seeking Submissions for Privacy Papers for Policy Makers 2014
FPF is pleased to invite privacy scholars, professionals, and others with an interest in privacy issues to submit papers to be considered for inclusion in FPF’s fifth annual edition of “Privacy Papers for Policy Makers.” The purpose of Privacy Papers for Policy Makers is to present policy makers with highlights of important research and analytical […]
FPF Statement on White House Big Data Report
Today, the White House released its report on big data and the future of privacy. The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), a DC-based think tank advocating responsible privacy and data practices, has closely followed the work of the Review Group. “Today’s White House report on Big Data carefully identifies most of the key issues in this […]