Showing posts with label ethics of using data attained via immoral means. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics of using data attained via immoral means. Show all posts

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Can Data Be Evil?; New York Times, 1/3/14

Chuck Klosterman, The Ethicist, New York Times; Can Data Be Evil? : [Question] "Some knowledge about hypothermia comes from brutal Nazi medical experiments conducted on prisoners of war. Considering the data came from the destruction of others’ lives, are there ethical issues when modern-day scientists use it? Could it be considered a form of collaboration with the Nazis? Or does the origin of the data matter if the data is useful? Declaring the data off-limits could lead to preventable deaths, while using the data seems coldheartedly clinical. ISAAC MAYER, SAN DIEGO"