Research Conducted in the Digital World Track

2019 AER Conference

Repeat Breakout Session (B15): The Secrets of Big Data—Public, Private, or Something Else?

Speaker(s)

• 

  Ivor A. Pritchard, PhD
  

  Senior Advisor to the Director, OHRP
  

Information is commonly thought to be either "public" or "private," with no third alternative. However, a considerable portion of big data could be considered to be neither public nor private, but rather information with access that is controlled or limited by such things as "privacy agreements," which actually serve to identify the extent to which information may be used and restricted. How should the norms of sharing information be constructed, and by whom? During this session, speakers and attendees will:

Learning Objectives:

• Examine when there could be a difference between "private information" and "confidential non-public information," and how this would alter the application of the regulations
• Share important legal cases regarding the evolving idea of privacy in US law
• Discuss current perspectives on how access to confidential information in various forms should be circumscribed in research