Hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the UC Berkeley School of Information, and the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.

This workshop is the last in a series of three events co-hosted by the OSTP and academic institutions across the country in response to President Obama’s call for a review of privacy issues in the context of increased digital information and the computing power to process it.

Advance registration required. The event will also be live-streamed online.

About the Workshop
This workshop will examine the policy and governance questions raised by the use of large and complex data sets and sophisticated analytics to fuel decision-making across all sectors of the economy, academia and government. The event will feature a series of panel discussions, a closing roundtable, and keynote address.

The goal of this workshop is to broaden the policy conversation along two dimensions. First, the workshop will explore the range of values that may be challenged by the growing use of big data techniques.

These values include:

(1) A variety of privacy-related values, including control over both personal information and physical being, and autonomy in decision-making;

(2) Anti-discrimination values, including concerns about preserving fairness in an economic and political environment shaped by the growing technological capabilities to store and analyze data; and

(3) Concerns about democratic values, accountability, and social cohesion where data-driven “personalization” fosters in an increasingly fragmented society.

Second, the workshop will explore the range of mechanisms — regulatory, professional, and organizational — that can help ensure these values are protected. After identifying both the values at issue and the current instruments and practices for protecting those values, participants will seek to identify gaps between the two. This initial work will inform the conversation around fostering a big data environment that allows society to benefit from the insights of big data in a manner that remains true to societal values of individual privacy, democracy, and fairness.

Previous Workshops Hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Big Data Privacy: Advancing the State of the Art in Technology and Practice (March 3, 2014)
Organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
View webcast

The Social, Cultural and Ethical Implications of Big Data (March 17, 2014)
Organized by the Data & Society Research Institute and New York University’s Information Law Institute
Webcast will be posted after the workshop