Data ethics refers to ethical concerns resulting from data collection, use and disclosure practices. As data ethics plays an essential role in digital transformation initiatives, organisations should carefully consider what impact their data practices might have on users, communities and society as a whole.
As a data scientist or IT professional, it's crucial to be mindful of your ethical responsibilities. Understanding data ethics will enable you to better protect data, users and the business itself.
Step one of addressing data ethics involves developing an understanding of what constitutes ethical use of data, followed by setting clear rules regarding its usage. This can be accomplished in several ways, such as creating a company data usage framework that represents shared mission and vision regarding how data will be utilized across your business.
Leadership plays an integral part in ensuring the success of any data ethics program. By gathering leaders from different departments to co-create its framework, this will help ensure everyone understands their responsibility in upholding company data ethics.
Leaders must ensure that ethical uses of data are integrated into organizational operations across their teams and colleagues through regular discussions, such as those with machine-learning operations or trust-building frameworks for AI applications. Finally, leaders should encourage formal training on data ethics.
