A team of federal data experts released a draft Data Ethics Framework with seven core tenets their colleagues need to keep in mind as agencies increase their use of data for decision making.
Data—especially at the scale and granularity collected by the federal government—is a powerful tool. But democratic governments that fail to use data ethically run the risk of losing the public’s trust and, in turn, their willingness to give their personal data over to agencies.
As part of the 20-point action plan to kick off implementation of the Federal Data Strategy in 2020, the General Services Administration was charged with creating a Data Ethics Framework “to help agency employees, managers and leaders make ethical decisions as they acquire, manage and use data.”
“Decisions made with data touch every aspect of American life,” the framework notes, particularly when the data is collected by federal agencies and the decisions being made are on behalf of the entire country. The framework looks to guide federal officials’ decision making on the use of data “with the goal of protecting civil liberties, minimizing risks to individuals and society, and maximizing the public good.”
GSA brought together a group of 14 federal officials from across government “with expertise in statistics, public policy, evidence-based decision making, privacy and analytics” to develop on the framework, with added insights from the Chief Data Officer Council, the Interagency Committee on Standards Policy and the Federal Privacy Council.
“Instead of looking at issues from a single perspective, ..
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