19th International CODATA Conference
Category: Plenary - Data and Society

Social Data and Society: Preventing Misuse of Social Data in the 21st Century

Roberta Balstad
Columbia University and Chair, US National Committee on CODATA, USA

Social data have always served multiple purposes and are employed in social science research, governance and public sector management, and commercial activities, as well as in social action, education, and non-governmental activities. Although there is a long history of using social data for socially valuable purposes, there is an equally long history of using them for ethically questionable purposes. In the last century, the definition of acceptable uses of social data was only formed in reaction to what was perceived as misuse of these data (e.g., invasions of personal privacy, use of socioeconomic and social science research data by totalitarian governments, manipulation of data for political or military purposes, etc.). As a result we enter the twenty-first century with carefully defined concepts of appropriate uses of social data that reflect the data technologies of the past century. Recent advances in data collection and observational technologies, together with the advent of new types of data management, mining, and analytic methods, have raised new questions about both what is appropriate use and what are appropriate economic and policy models for data access and exchange. Because technological and analytic innovations in the collection and use of social data continue at a rapid pace, each society must redefine what constitutes socially acceptable use of data. It would be valuable in the future if the definition of appropriate use of data could be recognized as a valuable ongoing process and that scientists, statisticians, and policy makers could begin to anticipate and prevent misuse of social data before it occurs, rather than responding to it after it has become a problem.