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EDPS publishes summary of outcomes of public consultation on digital ethics
Practical Law UK Legal Update w-016-8328 (Approx. 3 pages)
EDPS publishes summary of outcomes of public consultation on digital ethics
| Published on 01 Oct 2018 • England, Wales |
The European Data Protection Supervisor has published a summary of the outcomes of a public consultation on digital ethics, following on from previous work in this area.
On 15 June 2018, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) launched a public consultation on digital ethics, following on from previous work in this area (see, Legal update, Data ethics developments: EDPS publishes report and government reaffirms commitment to create UK-based Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and Legal update, EDPS publishes opinion on digital ethics.) The EDPS published a report on the outcomes of the consultation on 25 September 2018.
The consultation invited responses on the shift to digital and the ethical challenges faced by organisations and the public. Seventy-six responses were received, including from the private sector, health, education and public sector.
Findings included that:
- Ethics relating to new technologies are, or soon will be, on the agenda of the majority of organisations.
- GDPR compliance, including fair processing, legitimate interests balancing and consent, is seen as a challenge by many organisations when considering ethics and technology.
- 86% of participants considered that public authorities should play a role in governing digital ethics.
The EDPS has concluded that there are a range of challenges and risks that require urgent ethical deliberation, such as what data protection means in the age of big data processing and what the right to privacy means in an age of continuous tracking and profiling. Further debate on this topic will take place at the 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in October, with the EDPS noting that "debating digital ethics is ensuring that human beings, not technology, remain our primary consideration in this digital era" and that compliance with data protection rules, whilst important, should not be treated as a mere checklist.