Data Discrimination: Exploring Big Data and Bias
Data analytics gives businesses and government powerful new tools. Analyzing data troves allows companies to spot inefficiencies in supply chains. Police can track where crime is spreading. Retailers can tinker with pricing based on user data.
But do these advancements have potential pitfalls, too? Could retailers discriminate against customers based on their age, race and income by creating specific profiles of people through data? Will people end up deprived of opportunities if search engines automatically show them different results, based on what an algorithm knows about them? Will algorithms be used to change pricing for people in rich neighborhoods versus poor neighborhoods?
Those are all questions that Washington regulators are pondering now.
This panel will address the ethical and legal questions about Big Data analysis -- and discuss ways to avoid an age of digital inequity as more data is being collected, stored, and analyzed about us than ever before.
Presenters
Mallory Duncan
SVP & General Counsel
National Retail Federation
Mallory Duncan is senior vice president and general counsel at the National Retail Federation. He is responsible for coordinating strategic legislative and regulatory initiatives involving customer...
Show the restMichael Farrell
Editor, Passcode
The Christian Science Monitor
Michael Farrell is the editor of Passcode, a soon-to-be launched section from The Christian Science Monitor dedicated to covering the intersection of technology, security, and privacy. Farrell is b...
Show the restNicole Wong
Former US Deputy CTO
Nicole Wong is the former US Deputy Chief Technology Officer, focusing on Internet, privacy and innovation policy. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Nicole served as the Legal Director for...
Show the restSascha Meinrath
Dir
X-Lab
Sascha Meinrath is Director of X-Lab, an innovative new venture focusing on thought-provoking, bold tech policy interventions. Sascha founded the Open Technology Institute and has been an unapologe...
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