Just recently, Facebook announced that it is getting rid of its facial-recognition data because of privacy issues. In data science, although being able to decipher and analyze Big Data is a powerful tool, there are evidently many ethical concerns that come about. Therefore, one topic in which I think we could go more in depth is ethics and privacy in data science.
The issue of privacy in data science is highly complex because of the number of different problems that can arise. The article discusses numerous instances of misuse of facial-recognition data. It mentions how in China, video facial recognition has been used in order to facilitate the detainment of Muslim ethnic minorities. Additionally, in the US, use of facial recognition technology by police has been known to exacerbate racial injustice. Despite the conveniences offered by the collection of facial recognition data, there are too many problems associated with it that prevent it from being an overall beneficial technology. Although facial recognition is only a small portion of the vast possibilities offered by data science, its downsides indicate that it is always necessary to consider ethical concerns and their potential ramifications when using data science in any domain. Therefore, I believe this is a worthy topic for us to explore in greater detail.
Link to NPR article: https://www.npr.org/2021/11/02/1051504165/facebook-delete-facial-recognition-data-privacy