Friday, February 08, 2019

Responsible data in civil society

The World Food Programme recently announced a partnership with Palantir. There’s a lot to be concerned about here - in this specific instance and in the broadest possible sense for understanding civil society’s role regarding digital data use. Please read this open letter

https://responsibledata.io/2019/02/08/open-letter-to-wfp-re-palantir-agreement/


Does your organization know how the tech companies you partner with use the data you have on your constituents? It’s not just about “ownership,” but the insights and algorithms and predictive tools that may be built on that data. Are you “locked in” to a platform - if you wanted to switch vendors for your CRM or mailing lists or social media - can your organization get your data back?

How is your organization managing data? With any more respect for the individual people from whom it comes than these big software/analytics/insight companies? If not, why should anyone trust you with their data?

These are pivotal questions - and we need answers and processes and protocols and regulation. Civil society is not meant to be either a poor cousin of big business, an outsource arm of government, or the “data washing” arm of either.