Helen Nissenbaum / Must Privacy Give Way to Use Regulation? / 09.25.18

Helen Nissenbaum is professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech. Her research takes an ethical perspectives on policy, law, science, and engineering relating to information technology, computing, digital media and data science. Topics have included privacy, trust, accountability, security, and values in technology design. Her books include “Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest”, with Finn Brunton (MIT Press, 2015) and “Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life” (Stanford, 2010). Grants from the NSF, AFOSR, and the U.S. DHHS-ONC have supported her work. Recipient of the 2014 Barwise Prize of the American Philosophical Association, Nissenbaum has contributed to privacy-enhancing software, including TrackMeNot and AdNauseam. Nissenbaum holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University and a B.A. (Hons) in philosophy and mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Talk: “Must Privacy Give Way to Use Regulation?”

Abstract: There is considerable support for deregulating information collection and regulating only its use. Proponents argue that ex ante constraints on collection not only are impossible to enforce but will stifle the enormous potential of AI and big data. Imposing judicious constraints on use, they assert, is the answer. In Nissenbaum’s talk, she disputes this popular logic. While there is no denying the unprecedented challenges of big data and AI to traditionally conceived privacy regulation, giving up on collection regulation will weaken one of the cornerstones of a free society with no guarantee that data so released will serve the general good.