ADC participates in an OECD expert panel on ethics and data

On December 10, ADC’s head of Strategic Public Interest Litigation, Alejandro Segarra, attended an expert seminar on ethics and data sponsored by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The event, jointly organized with the Danish Business Authority, was held within the launch of the OECD Council Recommendation on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data (EASD Recommendation).

Segarra took part in the session “Potential and Limitations of Data Ethics,” which focused on barriers that are likely to arise against the effective adoption of data ethics by private, public, and non-profit organizations. Its goal was to identify and discuss the issues and challenges faced by governments, regulators, and private actors seeking to promote their implementation.

“I believe that notions related to ethics, and their possible expressions such as self-regulation, conduct or ethic codes, or protocols, cannot be considered whatsoever as an alternative for regulations or legal norms, nor as a means to circumvent the law or compliance obligations. In any case, their nature must be complementary to such legal requirements,” said Segarra.

As to Latin America, it was highlighted that being 80 percent of the private sector made up of small and medium-sized companies, “the incorporation of data ethics should be deemed as an economic incentive since their implementation or even a discussion in which the private sector could be truly represented is not easy to achieve.”

Finally, Segarra referred once again to one of ADC’s current major concerns, which is the “use and abuse of biometric data”. “A debate on data ethics in this particular area is absolutely mandatory and can be an ingenious way to create awareness and interest in an ethical agenda within the public sector and the population in general”, he observed.