Data ethics: how to be more trustworthy with data

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Data ethics and privacy

We demystify questions around data ethics and introduce some practical tools and learning resources to help individuals and organisations make more ethical decisions.

People to talk to about Data ethics: how to be more trustworthy with data

We envision a future where people, organisations and communities use data to make better decisions, more quickly. Using data can enable us to innovate, create more efficient and effective services and products, and fuel economic growth and productivity.

To bring about this future, we must make data as open as possible while protecting people’s privacy, commercial confidentiality and national security. We must identify potential ethical issues associated with a data project or activity.

The ODI advocates for and supports putting in place practices that ensure the way data is collected and used is trustworthy and ethical.

Through advocacy, we also promote data literacy in order for people to make informed choices about what data to share, and what privacy settings to use. Through training and services, the ODI helps organisations make better and more ethical decisions about data.

If you’d like to discuss how we can work with you to help your organisation to explore how it can become more trustworthy with data, get in touch with our team

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What is data ethics?
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Free tool: The Data Ethics Canvas

Learn about data ethics

Get help with using the Data Ethics Canvas

What is data ethics?

“Data ethics is a branch of ethics that evaluates data practices with the potential to adversely impact on people and society – in data collection, sharing and use”

The Open Data Institute, 2018.

Why do we need data ethics?

New technologies such as artificial intelligence, automated decision-making systems and Blockchain show the potential for data to have a beneficial impact on our society. However, new regulations, like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), along with recent events such as the Cambridge Analytic and Facebook scandal, have created greater awareness about the potential for data to be misused. The risk is that people lose trust in the decisions, products and services that use data.

We need people, organisations and communities to use data to make better decisions and be protected from any harmful impacts. Data ethics has an important role to play by helping define good practices around how data is collected, shared and used. Data ethics are especially relevant when data activities have the potential to directly or indirectly impact people and society.

For example, an automated data model might make decisions about whether an individual is eligible for a mortgage or what insurance they can be offered. And decisions about what data to collect – and what to exclude – might affect groups in a society.

How data ethics can help us build a better future

Data is moving from being scarce and difficult to process to being abundant and easy to use.

But harnessing its value for economic and social benefit – in ways that support innovation and deliver social justice – is hard. We envision a future where people, organisations and communities use data to make better decisions, more quickly.

This will help our economies and societies to thrive. Using data can enable us to innovate, create more efficient and effective services and products, and fuel economic growth and productivity. In this future, people can trust organisations to manage data ethically and for the benefits to be distributed fairly. Services that use data meet the needs of individuals, communities and societies.

The ODI’s theory of change explores a vision for creating the right conditions for all societies and economies to feel the positive impacts data can bring.

Explore the theory of change

Test your data ethics knowledge

Take our quiz and test your understanding of data ethics.

Take the quiz

How are organisations addressing data ethics?

Private sector companies and public sector bodies are responding to the need to consider data ethics in their work.

Private sector principles

Some businesses have created their own frameworks and principles for working with data. These include Accenture’s ethical framework for building digital trust, and Microsoft’s AI Principles.

Putting data ethics into practice: the Co-op

The data team at the Co-op, with support from the ODI, have been working to identify potential ethical issues associated with data they’re using. Their efforts have prompted Co-op delivery teams to think even more carefully about the data the Co-op manages to enable it to operate, and the topics that must be considered to ensure they are acting ethically.

Their blog outlines the steps they have been taking and the tools and techniques they have used.

Read the blog

Public sector data ethics

Public sector organisations are taking steps to address data ethics.

The UK government’s Data Ethics Framework sets out clear principles for how data should be used in the public sector. The Data Ethics Framework guides the design of appropriate data use in government and the wider public sector. This guidance is aimed at anyone working directly or indirectly with data in the public sector, including data practitioners (statisticians, analysts and data scientists), policymakers, operational staff and those helping produce data-informed insight.