By Elliot King
Perhaps the most profound ethical discussion associated with a significant technical advancement was the one scientists engaged in when they developed the atomic bomb. Was it right to contribute to the building of the most destructive weapon in human history--a weapon that could destroy the earth? The argument that the atomic bomb was the inevitable result of technical advances is just not compelling or satisfactory.
While certainly not as momentous as the debates about the atomic bomb or those debated in bioethics, like it or not, data quality professionals face ethical questions everyday. These questions revolve around privacy, data integrity, security, retention, access and so on.
Take the issue of privacy, for example. As we know in industries ranging from health care to financial, there are a slew of legal standards that companies have to meet. But beyond that, companies must decide exactly what data they collect about their customer or clients and why? Should your company routinely collect and store social security numbers, for example? If so, why? The question is not just one of legal liability but the ethics of putting your customers at unnecessary risk.
Similar sorts of ethical questions can be raised around data retention policies. Once again there are legal restrictions--in certain fields, records must be retained for legally determined periods of time--but there are also questions of right and wrong. Beyond your legal obligations, how much of your data should be retained for what period of time and why?
Incorporating the idea of ethics into your data management decision-making processes will help make your decisions more deliberative. Facing ethical concerns forces people to confront not only what they are required to do but what they should do as well.
Technical people often don't seem too interested in ethical issues related to their work. Discussions of right and wrong are often "squishy." Too frequently, they have no clear answers and the answer can change from one context to another. In contrast, technical people like to deal with facts. They like clear outcomes--it worked or it didn't work--without
any value judgments attached.
Perhaps the most profound ethical discussion associated with a significant technical advancement was the one scientists engaged in when they developed the atomic bomb. Was it right to contribute to the building of the most destructive weapon in human history--a weapon that could destroy the earth? The argument that the atomic bomb was the inevitable result of technical advances is just not compelling or satisfactory.
While certainly not as momentous as the debates about the atomic bomb or those debated in bioethics, like it or not, data quality professionals face ethical questions everyday. These questions revolve around privacy, data integrity, security, retention, access and so on.
Take the issue of privacy, for example. As we know in industries ranging from health care to financial, there are a slew of legal standards that companies have to meet. But beyond that, companies must decide exactly what data they collect about their customer or clients and why? Should your company routinely collect and store social security numbers, for example? If so, why? The question is not just one of legal liability but the ethics of putting your customers at unnecessary risk.
Similar sorts of ethical questions can be raised around data retention policies. Once again there are legal restrictions--in certain fields, records must be retained for legally determined periods of time--but there are also questions of right and wrong. Beyond your legal obligations, how much of your data should be retained for what period of time and why?
Incorporating the idea of ethics into your data management decision-making processes will help make your decisions more deliberative. Facing ethical concerns forces people to confront not only what they are required to do but what they should do as well.
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