CEA Privacy & Data Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An organization uses an algorithm to screen job applications and discovers it disproportionately rejects candidates from a particular ethnic group. From an ethics standpoint, what type of bias is most likely present?
- Confirmation bias
- Recency bias
- Algorithmic bias (Correct answer)
- Hindsight bias
Correct answer: Algorithmic bias
Algorithmic bias occurs when automated systems produce systematically prejudiced results due to flawed assumptions, biased training data, or discriminatory design.
Question 2: The principle of data sovereignty most directly refers to:
- The right of governments to tax data transactions
- The right of individuals and nations to control data about themselves (Correct answer)
- Corporate ownership of proprietary datasets
- The encryption standards required for cross-border transfers
Correct answer: The right of individuals and nations to control data about themselves
Data sovereignty asserts that data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the nation or individual from whom it originates.
Question 3: A hospital shares patient data with a pharmaceutical company for research under a data use agreement. Which condition is ethically MOST important to include?
- The pharmaceutical company's market capitalization
- A prohibition on using the data for any commercial purpose beyond the stated research (Correct answer)
- The number of patients whose data is shared
- The compensation the hospital receives for the data
Correct answer: A prohibition on using the data for any commercial purpose beyond the stated research
Ethical data use agreements must strictly limit secondary uses to prevent exploitation of patient data beyond the consented purpose.
Question 4: What is the primary ethical concern with 'surveillance capitalism'?
- Companies charging too much for internet services
- The commodification of personal behavioral data to predict and influence behavior for profit (Correct answer)
- Government monitoring of corporate financial transactions
- The use of CCTV cameras in public spaces
Correct answer: The commodification of personal behavioral data to predict and influence behavior for profit
Surveillance capitalism, coined by Shoshana Zuboff, describes business models that extract personal data as a raw material to predict and modify human behavior for commercial gain.
Question 5: A company's privacy notice states it will not sell user data, but it shares data with third-party 'partners' for advertising purposes. This practice most closely exemplifies:
- Legitimate interest processing
- Dark patterns (Correct answer)
- Data minimization
- Pseudonymization
Correct answer: Dark patterns
Dark patterns in privacy involve designing disclosures or interfaces that deceive users into believing their data is protected when it is actually being exploited.
Question 6: Which concept requires organizations to be able to demonstrate compliance with data protection principles, not merely assert it?
- Data portability
- Accountability (Correct answer)
- Transparency
- Integrity
Correct answer: Accountability
The accountability principle, emphasized in the GDPR, shifts the burden to organizations to actively document and prove that their data practices comply with applicable standards.
Question 7: An ethics officer discovers that employee monitoring software captures personal communications made on company devices during lunch breaks. The ethical tension here is primarily between:
- Productivity and creativity
- Employer property rights and employee privacy expectations (Correct answer)
- Data security and cost efficiency
- Transparency and confidentiality
Correct answer: Employer property rights and employee privacy expectations
Workplace monitoring raises a core ethical conflict between the employer's legitimate interest in device use and the employee's reasonable expectation of some personal privacy.
CEA Privacy & Data Ethics 3
An organization uses an algorithm to screen job applications and discovers it disproportionately rejects candidates from a particular ethnic group.
From an ethics standpoint, what type of bias is most likely present?