Conference, June 18-20 of 2008, The Hague
“Information technology plays an increasingly important role in society and in human lives. Identity Management Technologies (e.g. biometrics, profiling, surveillance), in combination with a variety of identification procedures and personalized services are ubiquitous and pervasive. This calls for careful consideration and design of collecting, mining, storing and use of personal information.
Access, rights, responsibilities, benefits, burdens and risks are apportioned on the basis of identities of individuals. These identities are formed on the basis of personal data collected and stored and manipulated in databases. This raises ethical questions, such as obvious privacy issues, but also a host of identity related moral questions concerning (the consequences of) erroneous classifications and the limits of our capacity for self-presentation and self definition.
Which conceptions of identity are used when addressing ethical issues regarding information technology? How can the concepts of ‘identity’ and ‘identification’ be understood from a philosophical perspective when discussing morally problematic developments in information technology? What are the philosophical semantics pertaining to reference and identification which may help clarify ambiguities and ethical issues? How can we arrive at a normatively sound conception of personal identity as a starting point for the study of the ethical aspects of the (information) technology that is shaping our lives? This conference aims to discuss the theme of ‘identity’ in light of new (information) technology.”
Key-note speakers
- David Velleman, New York University
- Oscar Gandy, University of Pennsylvania
- Robin Dillon, Lehigh University
- David Shoemaker, Bowling Green State University
More information here.
Technorati Tags: Identity Management, biometrics, profiling, surveillance, information technology, Ethics
Meldung von brad brace zur Präsentation von Google Body:
MOUNTAIN VIEW–Information search giant Google, Inc. announced Thursday the release of Google Body, a search service aiming to index the internal and external anatomy of every living creature on the planet. “Google has long been dedicated to making information both useful and universally accessible,” notes Google VP of Product Development Eric Hind. “We’re happy now to extend search to information about human bodies, mine and yours, inside and out, from the number of follicles on my head to the length of the President’s toenails.”
[…]
The service, which has been available for some three months to invitation-only beta testers, enables users to search for aggregate information about the anatomy of user-defined groups. “The service is a boon to the medical research community,” says Dr. Jennifer Guns of the Johns Hopkins Clinic for Specialism. “Nothing will replace truly controlled trials, but the ability to get a snapshot of, say, the blood pressure of men between 50 and 65 on New York’s Upper East Side, can certainly give companies an idea of where they might best spend their research dollars.
Early testers have remarked upon a fuzzy-logic “match my organ” feature, which helps users get in touch with the nearest, most suitable donor for multiple organ systems. “We think of Body as way to bring people together,” remarks Google’s Hind. […]
Vielleicht gar nicht so weit weg, wie man denken könnte.
[via nettime]
Technorati Tags: Google Body
ACM Transactions on the Web hat einen Call for Papers für eine Sonderausgabe veröffentlicht, die vielversprechend klingt:
The complete records of queries received by web search engines (Query Logs or QLs) are the fundamental evidence of their audience search goals and the engines’ ability to provide satisfactory answers. QLs include information such as queries submitted, reformulations, session boundaries, results actually explored (click through data), time spent reading each result, and so on. Commercial search engines use QL analysis to extract patterns of individual and collective behavior and use this feedback for improving search performance and accuracy. At the same time, the queries made by a particular individual often reflect their current interests and preoccupation and reveal a surprising amount of highly personal information. Continue reading ‘Call: Query Log Analysis – Technology & Ethics’