A Framework of Ethics Guidelines on Public Data from a Whole Life Cycle Perspective

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] As a basic national strategic resource, public data plays an important role in promoting high-quality economic development, enhancing social governance, and improving government service levels. The construction of an ethics framework helps participants in public data circulation such as public data producers, managers, users, and supervisors to establish an awareness of data security and ethics and regulate their behavior before public data circulation, avoiding public data ethics issues such as privacy breaches, excessive data collection, data abuse, and digital gap. [Method/Process] Based on previous studies and existing public data policies, this study summarizes the definition of public data according to legal logic and the principle of maximization and describes the differences between public data and government data in terms of data subject, data openness, and data profitability as its characteristics. Then, combined with the typical data life cycle model, the cyclic hierarchy model of the public data life cycle was constructed. In addition, by comparing the principles of public data ethics and the principles of digital technology ethics, the focus of the principles of public data ethics was analyzed, and the principles of public data ethics were summarized from the perspectives of respect, security, and equality. Finally, taking the principles of public data ethics as the criterion and the six general stages and 17 sub-stages of the public data lifecycle model as the first and second-level indicators, the ethical risks of public data at each stage were analyzed. By referring to the research at all stages of the public data lifecycle, academic achievements of domestic and international data ethics principles, provincial public data regulations, and ethical rules were listed for participants to manage their behaviors given these risks at each stage and to build a framework of public data ethics. [Results/Conclusions] This framework helps public data participants to regulate their actions, and implement prior ethical responsibilities to anticipate, avoid, and mitigate public data ethical risks before they occur throughout the life cycle. The shortcoming of this framework is that its applicability and practicability need to be tested, which is also the direction of our next research work, so as to make the framework more accurate and practical and put it into use. Additionally, it can provide references and opportunities for scholars involved in public management and services on public data ethics to stimulate the value of public data elements, promote the digitization process of public management and services, and help achieve social equity, solve disputes, and gain sustainable development.

Keywords

• public data|data ethics|whole life cycle model|guideline framework