Cited by 465Ethics and Social Impacts of AIBig Data Technologies and ApplicationsDigitalization, Law, and Regulation

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 21 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 9 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Big Data ethics

Open access
Zwitter, Andrej·2014·Big Data & Society

Abstract

The speed of development in Big Data and associated phenomena, such as social media, has surpassed the capacity of the average consumer to understand his or her actions and their knock-on effects. We are moving towards changes in how ethics has to be perceived: away from individual decisions with specific and knowable outcomes, towards actions by many unaware that they may have taken actions with unintended consequences for anyone. Responses will require a rethinking of ethical choices, the lack thereof and how this will guide scientists, governments, and corporate agencies in handling Big Data. This essay elaborates on the ways Big Data impacts on ethical conceptions.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This conceptual essay argues that Big Data challenges traditional ethical assumptions about individual moral agency, free will, and power, pushing ethics toward impersonal, consequence-based and hyper-networked frameworks. It outlines four ethically relevant qualities of Big Data and discusses resulting challenges for privacy, group privacy, propensity/predictive policing, and research ethics.

Key findings

  • Big Data has four ethically relevant qualities: there is more data than ever (e.g. 5 billion gigabytes every 10 minutes in 2013, projected every 10 seconds by 2015), it is organic/messy, potentially global, and emphasizes correlations over causation.
  • Traditional ethics relies on individual moral agency defined by causality, knowledge, and choice; Big Data challenges these premises by creating “dependent agency,” distributed morality, and hyper-networked power among Big Data collectors, utilizers, and generators.
  • Privacy concerns extend beyond individuals to group privacy: anonymization is a matter of degree, and groups become more transparent even when data are de-individualized.
  • The essay cites bot traffic as an example of manipulation: a 2013 report showed 61.5% of website visitors were bots, with malicious types including scrapers (5%), hacking tools (4.5%), spammers (0.5%), and impersonators (20.5%).

Methods

  • Design: conceptual/philosophical essay, not an empirical study.
  • Data/sample: no original dataset; the argument draws on secondary literature, media reports, and illustrative examples such as Facebook, Twitter, predictive policing, and bot traffic.
  • Analysis: the essay proceeds by outlining traditional ethical principles, summarizing four qualities of Big Data, discussing changing power distributions, and illustrating ethical challenges in privacy, group privacy, propensity, and research ethics.

Limitations

  • The paper does not state formal limitations for its own argument.
  • Evident from the text: as a conceptual essay, it does not present original empirical data or a systematic review, and its claims rely on illustrative examples and secondary sources.
  • The text acknowledges that research ethics codes lag behind Big Data developments and that social media research ethics remains an open question, but it does not treat these as limitations of the essay itself.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/2053951714559253

Cites

21 of 21 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

32 Own interpretation · 8 Not checked yet

Verify all 9 references — free account

Show all 12 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 24
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 12
28 of 28
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The ethical implications of impersonal data are much less commonly discussed.

    “Hence, much less commonly dis- cussed are the ethical implications of impersonal data.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Observers tend to exculpate agents if they did not possess full moral agency, i.e. when at least one of the three criteria is absent.

    “Implicitly, observers tend to exculpate agents if they did not possess full moral agency, i.e. when at least one of the three criteria is absent.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The degree to which an entity possesses moral agency determines the responsibility of that entity.

    “The degree to which an entity possesses moral agency determines the responsibility of that entity.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Moral responsibility in combination with extraneous and intrinsic factors, which escape the will of the entity, defines the culpability of this entity.

    “Moral responsibility in combination with extraneous and intrinsic factors, which escape the will of the entity, defines the culpability of this entity.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Data analysts are using Big Data to find out our shopping preferences, health status, sleep cycles, moving patterns, online consumption, friendships, etc.

    “Data analysts are using Big Data to find out our shopping preferences, health status, sleep cycles, moving patterns, online consumption, friendships, etc.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    In only a few cases, and mostly in intelligence circles, this information is individualized.

    “In only a few cases, and mostly in intelligence circles, this information is individualized.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    De-individualization is just one aspect of anonymization.

    “De-individualization (i.e.removing elements that allow data to be connected to one specific person) is, however, just one aspect of anonymization.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Anonymization of data is a matter of degree of how many and which group attributes remain in the data set.

    “Anonymization of data is, thus, a matter of degree of how many and which group attributes remain in the data set.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    To strip data from all elements pertaining to any sort of group belongingness would mean to strip it from its content.

    “To strip data from all elements pertaining to any sort of group belongingness would mean to strip it from its content.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The problem is very much a political one: the high probability of a certain person committing a murder cannot be ignored without major public criticism if nothing had been done to prevent it.

    “The problem is very much a political one: the high probability of a certain person committing a murder cannot be ignored without major public criticism if nothing had been done to prevent it.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Sending social workers to a person's house based on Big Data predictions might not be as invasive as incarcerating people before the deed and does not violate the presumption of innocence, but might cause a stigma on the person, family, and friends.

    “Sending social workers to the person's house might not be as invasive as incarcerating people before the deed and it also does not violate the presumption of innocence.However, this might cause a stigma on the person, the family, and friends.”
11 of 11

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Citations

Cites

Show all 21 references

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Dalenius T, 1977, Statistik Tidskrift, 5, 429

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 301–400 of 463

Metadata

Authors
Zwitter, A.
Affiliations
University of Groningen (NL)
Corresponding author
Zwitter, Andrej
Venue
Big Data & Society
Published
2014-07-01
Volume
1
Issue
2
ISSN
2053-9517 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2139661402
Cited by
465
References
21
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 65 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 2
FWCI
89.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Big Data & Society (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Big Data Technologies and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Law › Digitalization, Law, and Regulation
Keywords
big data ethics, unintended consequences, social media, ethical decision-making, collective action, personal responsibility, data governance, government data policy

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