Principles of Digital Law and Ethics

As more personal data is collected and more decisions that affect individuals are automated, individual rights are increasingly threatened. The legal system and society at large need to determine what information about individuals can be gathered and maintained and when and how that data can be used to judge individuals. It is essential that we have thoughtful conversations about the core principles for digital law and ethics. Those conversations should involve broad, diverse, and interdisciplinary groups, which can consider factors such as biases in historical data, whether an algorithm is being programmed or trained appropriately, and what type of decisions we are comfortable automating or trusting algorithms to make. The best safeguard of our digital rights will ultimately be engaging diverse teams that thoughtfully consider how their fellow humans are affected as they establish legal and ethical guardrails around emerging technology.

By Thomas Freeman & Dr. Aaron McKain^[1]

We live in an era of Big Data, where most information about us is known or knowable. Gone are the days when privacy consisted of the ability to choose what we shared with the world. We spend more and more of our lives online. Our online activities, movements, purchases, and communications are tracked, cataloged, and used to judge and influence us. There are almost no rules for this Brave New World we live in, which permits our government(s) and private companies to engage in all manner of