Question

1.A data analyst received permission to post a data set that was scraped from a social media site. The full data set included name, screen name, email address, geographic loca- tion, IP (Internet protocol) address, demographic profiles, and preferences for relationships. Why might it be problematic to post a deidentified form of this data set where name and email address were removed?

2.A Slate article (http://tinyurl.com/slate-ethics) discussed whether race/ethnicity should be included in a predictive model for how long a homeless family would stay in homeless services. Discuss the ethical considerations involved in whether race/ethnicity should be included as a predictor in the model.

3.

In the United States, most students apply for grants or subsidized loans to finance their college education. Part of this process involves filling in a federal government form called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The form asks for information about family income and assets. The form also includes a place for listing the universities to which the information is to be sent. The data collected by FAFSA includes confidential financial information (listing the schools eligible to receive the information is effectively giving permission to share the data with them). It turns out that the order in which the schools are listed carries important information. Students typically apply to several schools, but can attend only one of them. Until recently, admissions offices at some universities used the information as an important part of their models of whether an admitted student will accept admissions. The earlier in a list a school appears, the more likely the student is to attend that school.Here’s the catch from the student’s point of view. Some institutions use statistical models to allocate grant aid (a scarce resource) where it is most likely to help ensure that a student enrolls. For these schools, the more likely a student is deemed to accept admissions, the lower the amount of grant aid they are likely to receive.Is this ethical? Discuss.

4.In the United States, the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) governs the confidentiality of data collected by agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau. What are the penalties for willful and knowing disclosure of protected information to unauthorized persons?

Answer 1

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1.

Answer)

A data analyst has received permission for posting the data set which was scraped from the social media site. Thus the full data had name, screen name, email address, geographic location, IP address, demographic profiles, and preferences for relationships. Thus it contains quite a lot of private information of the individuals which was given to the data analyst. A de-identified form of this data set where name and email address were removed, would still contain the identifiable information such as name, screen name, IP address, demographic profiles, and preferences for relationships using which we can identify an individual. Thus if we post this de-identified form of this data then also it may be problematic as it contains private information and are not completely de-identified. Also, if any identifiable information is left in the data then it will be a violation of the person’s privacy rights, who that data belongs to. Also using the demographic profiles, and preferences for relationships for any analytics can create concern for the demographic profiles and groups or religions and thus one should be cautious before posting such data, as one’s religion and demographic and relationship preference is particularly very private.