Take-Aways (AI)
  • The DEK deve­lo­ps ethi­cal gui­de­lines and spe­ci­fic recom­men­da­ti­ons for action to pro­tect the indi­vi­du­al, social coexi­stence and pro­spe­ri­ty in the infor­ma­ti­on age.
  • Focus on algorithms/ADM, AI and data; recom­mends con­trol rights (e.g. data por­ta­bi­li­ty) and prin­ci­ples such as pri­va­cy by design.

The Data Ethics Com­mit­tee – “DEK”, a body set up by the Ger­man fede­ral govern­ment – has deve­lo­ped a exten­si­ve exper­ti­se on data ethics (an abrid­ged ver­si­on is also available at available). Their mis­si­on was as follows:

[…] ethi­cal stan­dards and gui­de­lines as well as con­cre­te recom­men­da­ti­ons for action for pro­tec­ting the indi­vi­du­al, safe­guar­ding social coexi­stence and secu­ring and pro­mo­ting pro­spe­ri­ty in the infor­ma­ti­on age. To this end, the Ger­man govern­ment has pro­vi­ded the DEK with gui­ding que­sti­ons that focus on the three topics of Algo­rithm-based fore­ca­sting and decis­i­on-making pro­ce­s­ses (ADM), AI and Data focus.

The DEK for­mu­la­tes a num­ber of prin­ci­ples and recom­men­da­ti­ons for action in this area, inclu­ding con­trol rights such as the right to data por­ta­bi­li­ty or prin­ci­ples such as pri­va­cy by design.