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Privacy, Data Protection, Security and Trust in a year of the global pandemic

This article is written by Vasiliki Koniakou, from one of i3-Market’s partner organisations – Athens University of Economics and Business


Pitting technology against the pandemic, 2020 presented us with challenges – where to place the threshold of privacy protection and preservation, the risk of eroding public trust as we race to implement digital solutions, and opportunities – improved interoperability and data exchange may benefit the post-COVID world.

Annus Horribilis 

Arguably, 2020 was a year like no other in recent history. Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) had already identified that the likelihood of pandemics has increased over the past century for a variety of reasons, including urbanisation, globalisation, climate change and increased mobility,[1] hardly anyone was expecting that an infection that started last December in China would evolve into a global health crisis the way COVID-19 did. As of December 2020, almost 74,000,000 cases have been reported, while 1,644,589 people have died worldwide.[2] The pandemic has created unparalleled demand for data and insights to assess and mitigate the risks for public health, and prevent not only the toll on human lives, but also on the global economy. Simultaneously, whereas technology significantly contributed to mapping and preventing the spread of the virus, there are still several questions and concerns related to contact tracing systems and other privacy and data protection trade-offs that were deemed necessary given the circumstances.[3] The availability of reliable data, interoperability, security, and trust became pressing issues, while the merits, as well as the limits of privacy and data protection law, were significantly challenged. 

Privacy vs. a global public health crisis

“Privacy vs. public health” and swift decision-making to save lives, were two reasons invoked by several mostly non-EU countries, to justify privacy-intrusive methods and the invasiveness of several COVID-related applications. On the other hand, in the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) served as a protective veil for European citizens’ privacy, with sometimes questionable degrees of success, depending also on the national legal specificities and the level of Member State public sector compliance. Privacy and data ethics experts stress that anonymisation and usage of aggregated data as such, do not necessarily offer an adequate level of privacy and should not lead to the assumption that privacy and data protection are safely protected.[4] “Anonymised data” may create the impression that the individual is no longer identifiable. However, a 2019 study challenges this assumption. The researchers presented a model that may re-identify 99.8% of the data subjects in a dataset, pointing out that successful re-identification may reach considerably high levels in case of “heavily incomplete” anonymised data sets.[5] This is a particularly concerning, or even disturbing, realization, especially when it comes to geo-location and location privacy-related data, as well as health data. Furthermore, accepting this trade-off may serve as a “precedent for data-driven policing”[6],risking an ethical setback regarding where we place the threshold of privacy protection and preservation. It also familiarises us with the idea that fundamental rights may be interfered with, in the face of a crisis, without verifying whether such interference is proportionate, and in accordance with international human rights law. 

Security and Trust vs. time sensitivity 

Obviously, during a global epidemic, data and time are two of the most valuable resources for scientists and policymakers alike. Whereas the current situation is much worse compared to the 1918 flu pandemic, a significant difference is that today, science and technology allow us to monitor the spread of the disease and the mutations of the virus. We are also able to share data on the virus’ dissemination patterns, and insights for epidemiological models almost instantaneously, while effectively communicating protective measures worldwide. Leaving aside the unprecedented spread of fake news, information and communication technologies serve as important tools in the fight against COVID-19. Technology has been a key factor, particularly when it comes to understanding how seemingly subtle differences in our daily routines may have profound consequences for the spread of the virus, and tracing contacts to inform potentially infected individuals and contain further infection. As such, various tracing applications quickly became a rather central part of spread-monitoring and a source of information for data-driven decision-making. 

However, the rush to develop and implement such solutions led to several information security flaws that in turn challenged the trust of people in them.[7] Considering that data-driven decision-making and strategising require significant and reliable data sources, voluntary collaboration with the public is essential. In other words, people’s willingness to share their data is crucial. Consequently, trust is a vital component for the success of such solutions, as well as for bringing together quality data sources. As such, to avoid jeopardising the public’s trust in future projects as well, which would deprive a data-driven society from indispensable insights, it is imperative to further invest in security, consider the merits of decentralization in systems development, prioritize transparency, privacy, data protection and accountability. Even though time is indeed valuable, the loss of trust may be irreversible in the long term, while human rights and ethical values are not a question of convenience.

Big Data, interoperability and the global exchange of data 

The collection and processing of various types of data has been a key part of governments, intergovernmental and private actors’ response to the coronavirus crisis, in an effort to understand, map, monitor, contain and remedy the pandemic. Ironic as it may seem – given that our era is presumably the time of Big Data and Big Data Analytics – COVID-19 illustrated that there is still ample space for further elaborating and enhancing the collection and exchange of data on a global scale. Whilst health-related data may be the first example coming to mind, working from home combined with the drastic digitalisation of the global economy as well as the “turning-digital” shift of the social life for billions of people have created vast amounts of additional data and data sources. The question now is how this data will be collected, exchanged, and used for the benefit of mankind in the dawn of an arguably new period for humanity. Additionally, although the value of Big Data Analytics is already widely acknowledged, there are still several technical limitations that became particularly evident during the pandemic. 

To overcome such obstacles, Apple and Google came together in a monumental and highly symbolic cooperation to co-create application programming interfaces that allow interoperability between iOS and Android devices using COVID-19 related applications from public health authorities and offer a larger Bluetooth-based exposure notification platform.[8] This initiative is particularly noteworthy, not only because it highlights the power and potential of the collective intellect and coordinated efforts of technology giants, but also because it reminds us of the significance of interoperability and cross-platform compatibility, in an increasingly interconnected world. Especially as we are moving from Big Data to Smart Data, allowing data to flow and to be shared across different platforms and systems, it may significantly enhance data-driven decision making in several sectors, and contribute to the post-COVID world. From that angle, this doubtlessly difficult year brought, apart from a wide range of challenges, some opportunities worth exploring.

Data-driven technologies can be a double-edged sword and it is up to us how we wield it. While swift decision-making and quick implementation of digital solutions can help save lives, we risk an ethical setback regarding where we place the threshold of privacy protection and preservation, as well as the erosion of public trust. On the other hand, improved interoperability and data exchange may benefit the world in the long term. 


[1] WHO (World Health Organization). 2005. International Health Regulations. Geneva: WHO. – Jones K E, Patel N G, Levy M A, Storeygard A, Balk D., and others. 2008. “Global Trends in Emerging Infectious Diseases.” Nature 451 (7181): 990–93.

[2] The Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, Coronavirus Resource Center, COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), available at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[3] Gabriela Arriagada Bruneau, Mark Gilthorpe, Vincent C. Müller. The ethical imperatives of the COVID-19 pandemic: A review from data ethics, Veritas,44, (2020).

[4] Seng Ah Lee, M. Data Ethics in combating COVID-19 after lockdown. Cambridge University, Trust & Technology Initiative. Research perspectives. (2020)

[5] Rocher, L., Hendrickx, J. M., & de Montjoye, Y.-A. Estimating the success of re-identifications in incomplete datasets using generative models. Nature Communications10(1), (2019).

[6] Gabriela Arriagada Bruneau, Mark Gilthorpe, Vincent C. Müller. The ethical imperatives of the COVID-19 pandemic: A review from data ethics, Veritas,44, (2020).

[7] Ibid. 

[8] Google Inc, “Apple and Google partner on COVID-19 contact tracing technology.” Available at: 

https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/apple-and-google-partner-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/

Categories
Events News

DigitalAroundTheWorld event report

DigitalAroundTheWorld event report

On 21 October 2020, i3-MARKET contributed to the DigitalAroundTheWorld conference with an experts’ panel on «Bringing the Data Platforms Perspective in IoT». Seven experts among the i3-MARKET partners were panellists in the session: Martin Serrano, Carolin Rubner, Septimiu Nechifor, Tomas Pariente Lobo, Bruno Michel, Jean-Loup Dépinay, and Cinzia Rubattino. They presented different perspectives on the evolution of Digital transformation and the role Data/AI/IoT technologies have played influencing it. The partners focused on four application areas of the project: Automotive Industry, Industrial IoT, Intelligent Manufacturing and Smart Health / Active Healthy Aging.

In-house data is not enough for many organizations embarked in Digital Transformation. On the other hand, there is a clear trend towards capitalizing data via data platforms or data marketplaces. Tomás Pariente Lobo, from Atos, presented existing data sharing initiatives and data marketplaces and the need to federate these efforts. Therefore, i3-MARKET is working on simplifying access to multiple marketplaces.

Carolin Rubner, from Siemens AG, presented data platforms and marketplaces for intelligent manufacturing. Indeed, data platforms and marketplaces for sharing or trading data assets in intelligent manufacturing ecosystems need to be based on trust. Therefore, future i3-MARKET solutions need to integrate trust-enabling properties such as openness and fairness, security and privacy, consensus-based ruling, and non-centralized control to make these marketplaces successful.

Jean-Loup Dépinay, from Idemia, then explained that Data Markets need to ensure security of transactions and enforcement of users’ privacy, as well as new ways to control accounting, governance, identity and transactions. Therefore, i3-MARKET is proposing to base this control on a tamper-proof ledger (to register transactions), consensus-based governance (every changes approved by all nodes), and cryptographic keys (all transaction signed). Through a hardware wallet embedded in a card or a SIM card, we will target to enable this control for every users in a smooth way in their personal environment using smartphones.

Finally, Bruno Michel, from IBM, focused on the Smart Health sector. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an e-Health upsurge, due to overloaded health systems and infection risks posed by doctor visits or caregiver visits to support for elderly living independently.
To maximize usefulness and versatility of e-Health systems, monitoring needs to be coupled with artificial intelligence. In this aspect, human centric sensing and computing promotes moving intelligence to data and not data to intelligence, as well as the use of federated learning on local data. However, both approaches as well as use of simulated data can ease increasing constraints due to privacy legislation.

Disclaimer

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The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.

Categories
News

Newsletter #1

Newsletter #1

i3-MARKET’s first-ever newsletter is now available!

You can inform yourself on the latest news of the i3-MARKET project in the pdf above. This format also allows you to share it with other data-interested people in your company and your network.

In this first edition, you get to know more about i3-MARKET’s progress of the past 8 months, i.e. how we coped with COVID-19, our activities and events, as well as some exclusive information on the coordinators and the dissemination leads of the project, respectively NUIG and DIGITAL SME.

Should you prefer to have our newsletter delivered straight to your e-mail inbox, suscribe via this form to get the next editions sent to you!

Disclaimer

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The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.

Categories
News

The biggest challenges related to data marketplaces and data monetisation

The biggest challenges related to data marketplaces and data monetisation

On 23 July, i3-MARKET hosted its first workshop, dedicated to the needs of potential end-users of the i3-MARKET solutions. The aim of the workshop was to gather the end-users’ view of the data market and to identify challenges related to data marketplaces, data usage and data monetisation. 

While the first part of the workshop was a virtual discussion about data marketplaces between the participants and organisers, the second part was structured as an online workshop organised in different breakout sessions. In order to galvanise participants’ creative input, the workshop employed the so-called “6-3-5 brainwriting” technique.  Developed by German marketing and business consultant Bernd Rohrbach, this technique fosters the rapid production of ideas and proposals in a small group setting. Groups of 6 people have to generate 3 ideas on a given topic in 5 minute-rounds. The workshop started with an open discussion on general issues regarding data marketplace and the data economy. From this discussion, three core issues were identified and discussed in the group brainstorming sessions:

1. Companies struggle with using the data they collect

2. Companies have trouble finding accessible data sets

3. There is a general lack of trust in data marketplaces

The brainstorming sessions led to following results:

1. Companies struggle with using the data they collect

According to the participants, the issue of not being able to use industrial data relates to ecosystem maturity. This can happen, for example, when there is no ecosystem leader and DaaS (Desktop as a service) is not yet established in the respective industry sector.

Participants also pointed to data cost and pricing. First of all, there is a high cost of handling, searching, and managing data. In addition, the value of data is also often unclear, and there is no free data for industrial use. Not being able to use data is also due to a lack of Open Data availability, or to the fact that Open Data is not necessarily available for commercial use, as well as due to the difficulty to find matching or useful data formats. Moreover, there are hurdles at the company level, the major problems being that there is often no clear understanding of the added value of sharing data or that companies are reluctant to share their data. On top of this, there is little compensation for data owners. Lastly, even if a company gathers and manages data, it might not be able to create value from it. Indeed, it takes a completely novel company structure to be able to incorporate knowledge derived from data or to sell it.

2. Companies have trouble finding accessible data sets

Regarding the problematic of finding relevant data, the main issue raised by the participants is the lack of trusted data providers. This is due to the difficulty to identify compliant organisations and matching users or providers, and to the missing standardisation for data extraction and storage. Finding relevant data is a challenge because of the lack of available Open Data, but also because of the high amount of data sources and the difficulty to find third-party data. Finally, the Data Services that are offered by existing marketplaces are still in their early stages, leaving significant room for improvement. Issues like customer support, data anonymisation, and dataset harmonisation are services that are missing or not offered to a full extent in the current ecosystem.

3. There is a general lack of trust in data marketplaces

When addressing the problematic of trust in a data marketplace, the participants cited regulation as one of the main issues. Indeed, there is a need for harmonised European regulation, for example a financial transaction framework, and for setting up  (smart) contracts. Trusting a data marketplace requires to have trusted partners, which is challenging if there is no reliable user authentication and user verification, as well as no authority to turn to in case of conflicts. The source of the data should also be reliable. In addition, the workshop participants would expect from a data marketplace to have clear terms and conditions, a clear pricing model and a clear mention of the data ownership, as well as ease of use. Among other items, they listed search engines, after-sales support, and the possibility to anonymise data and users.

This first workshop offered valuable insights of data-marketplace users and their main issues. Among others, it seems that openness of data is a recurring problem for the participating companies, as it has been stressed throughout the different addressed problematics.

The results of the workshop will allow the i3-MARKET project partners to develop solutions matching real market needs.

Disclaimer

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The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.

Categories
COVID-19 News

Our response to the crisis

Our response to the crisis

As a mainly digital project, we are in the lucky position to keep working on i3-MARKET with full force despite the current pandemic.

We are staying connected to our stakeholders, building the platform, and informing the public about our progress!

It is our goal to contribute to a European data market infrastructure that helps you plug your data to the world–no matter if it rains, shines, or if there’s a global pandemic.

NEW: Tell us how COVID-19 has affected you as a data marketplace user by filling out this short survey!

Staying connected via online meetings

Organising virtual conferences with our community

Engaging with people via social media and our website

Keeping stakeholders up-to-date with informative visual material and posts

Please feel free to reach out to us via our contact form below or on our Twitter and LinkedIn pages if you want to learn more about the project!

Stay safe and plug your data to the world!

Disclaimer

Flag of Europe

The i3-Market project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 871754.