In the next few months, a lot is going to be learned about the relationship between Facebook, Cambridge Analytics, and the data of their users.
The technical details will be interesting, as will observing the downfall of the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, or watching Mark Zuckerberg testifying in front of Congress.
It will all make for good TV viewing.
But, if you work in healthcare, also look at what underpins this: the creation of digital representations of people, and who owns these digital representations.
You are going to find that technology corporations believe they own these digital representations, and therefore they can do whatever they want with them, at least internally.
Hey, they harvested all the data, right?
And you signed that software user agreement, didn’t you?
This is why tech company employees and leadership, no matter how brilliant they are in their narrow fields, shouldn’t be making decisions about data ethics.
They simply don’t have to tools; their brilliance in technology doesn’t translate well into the ethical arena.