Privacy, platforms and openness keynote from Open Apereo 2019.

1. Platforms and Privacy
Developing
Open Approaches
Ian Dolphin
ian.dolphin@apereo.org
More about why this sign was created at http://www.intrastructures.net/Intrastructures/Actions_-_The_next_big_thing_2.html
PhotographIanDolphin|CCBY-SA4.0
Original Content CCBY-SA 4.0 International

2. Health Warning.
This is a personal take, and as such features my cat.
There will be a warning for felineophobes.
And there’s a direct question for you at the end.

3. EDUCAUSE
Top 10 IT Issues 2019
Developing an open response
Early lessons from Learning Analytics work

4. Primitive dystopias ….
Мы (We) 1921
Brave New World (1931)
Nineteen-Eighty Four (1948)

5. Watergate era paranoia… (The Conversation, 1974)
… Bad state actors (Das Leben der Anderen, 2006)

6. https://me.me/i/people-in-the-sixties-ibetternotsay-thatior-the-government-will-wiretap-19993536

7. “For now we can recognize that over the centuries
we have imagined threat in the form of state power.
This left us wholly unprepared to defend ourselves
from new companies with imaginative names run by
young geniuses that seemed able to provide us with
exactly what we yearn for at little or no cost.”
Shoshana Zuboff

9. “Surveillance capitalism unilaterally
claims human experience as free
raw material for translation into
behavioral data.”
“In other words, Google would no
longer mine behavioral data strictly to
improve service for users but rather to
read users’ minds for the purposes of
matching ads to their interests, as
those interests are deduced from the
collateral traces of online behavior.”

10. ‘Corporate surveillance is creating a robust
social graph of our existence. To see this
as a problem of personal, individual
responsibility would be to miss the
broader, systemic context.’
‘There is a growing awareness of the
scandalously invasive way in which we are
surveilled by data miners and marketers
to predict and control our behavior for the
purposes of making money.’

11. The Guardian 5 March 2018 | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/05/algorithms-rate-credit-scores-finances-data

12. Education is not exempt …

13. Times Higher 7 Sept 2017 | https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/

14. ZDNet 14April2010 https://www.zdnet.com/article/turnitin-if-youre-a-student-all-your-intellectual-property-might-belong-to-us/

15. Inside Higher Ed 19JUNE17 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/19/anti-turnitin-manifesto-calls-resistance-some-technology-digital-age

16. E-Literate 10NOV16 https://mfeldstein.com/popular-discussion-platform-piazza-getting-pushback-selling-student-data/

17. ‘If you’re not paying for the product,
you are the product’
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/16/product/
“For now let’s say that users are not products, but
rather we are the sources of raw-material supply”
Shoshana Zuboff

18. WONKHE 09April19 https://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-platform-university-a-new-data-driven-business-model-for-profiting-from-he/
Ben Williamson, WONKHE

19. eLiterate 11MAR19 https://mfeldstein.com/instructure-plans-to-expand-beyond-canvas-lms-into-machine-learning-and-ai/

20. eLiterate 11MAR19 https://mfeldstein.com/instructure-plans-to-expand-beyond-canvas-lms-into-machine-learning-and-ai/
‘DIG ultimately is a platform first and foremost based
upon machine learning and artificial intelligence’

21. LISTedTECH 28MAY19 https://www.listedtech.com/blog/edtech-companies-with-the-most-student-data
Student Information Systems (SIS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), and email

22. Hack Education Blog 11 Dec 2017 | http://hackeducation.com

23. Chaplin | Modern Times

24. Let’s take a deeper dive…

25. algorithm
/ˈalɡərɪð(ə)m/
noun
1. a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations
or other problem-solving operations, especially by a
computer.

26. https://www.youtube.com/embed/heQzqX35c9A?autoplay=1

27. Not worried yet?
Let’s look closer …

28. What Could Possible Go Wrong?
A Platform and Big Data Blooper Reel…

29. Wired 27APRIL2011 https://www.wired.com/2011/04/amazon-flies-24-million/

30. Wired 10 January 2015 | https://www.wired.com/2015
Google predicted where flu outbreaks would take place by what symptoms
are searched … but then changed their suggested search input to include “flu
symptoms” … 140% error on peak of 2013 flu season

31. The Guardian 30 June 2016 | https://www.theguardian.com/technolo
Tesla autopilot sensors failed to identify white truck against white sky

32. LA Times 11 Oct 2016 | http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-

33. NY Times 2MAR13 http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/technology/google-pays-fine-over-street-view-privacy-breach.html

34. Facebook
Is there a day without an example of egregious
misuse of user data? Or an attempt to misuse …

35. WSJ22FEB19https://www.wsj.com/articles/you-give-apps-sensitive-personal-information-then-they-tell-facebook-11550851636
ComputerWeeklyCom22FEB19https://www.wsj.com/articles/you-give-apps-sensitive-personal-information-then-they-tell-facebook-11550851636
CBCNews3MAR19https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/facebook-canada-data-pressure-1.5041063

36. The Guardian 13AUG19 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/13/facebook-news-media-campbell-brown-hospice

37. The Guardian 8APR19 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/08/facebook-are-morally-bankrupt-liars-says-new-zealands-privacy-commissioner

41. Photograph: Ian Dolphin | CCBY-SA 4.0

42. The Independent 11 May 2018 | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/met-polic

43. The Independent 28 June 2018 | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/facial-re

44. Nature 25 January 2015 | https://www.nature.com

46. There are other approaches …
Hull Daily Mail 5 Oct 2013 | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2445

47. BBC 15May19 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48276660

48. The Guardian 16JUNE16 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/chinese-university-students-cctv-surveillance-wuchang
A 100-strong team of officials has been tasked with
monitoring the images as they are captured, according to
a report on cnhubei.com, a news website in Hubei province,
where the university is located.
Sun Yi, from the university’s business school, said the move was
designed to encourage “good study habits” among students.
Yu Chengqing, a professor, claimed the cameras had helped
improve students’ behaviour by stamping out both smartphones
and siestas.
“After the cameras were installed the study environment
improved a great deal,” one unnamed employee was quoted as
saying. “Phenomena such as playing with phones, napping or
chatting during class have virtually disappeared.”

49. Megapixels https://megapixels.cc/datasets/uccs/
‘Their setup made it impossible for students
to know they were being photographed,
providing the researchers with realistic
surveillance images to help build face
recognition systems for real world
applications for defense, intelligence, and
commercial partners.’
Dataset publicly
available for 3 years.

50. Honi Soit 18 May 2017 | http://honisoit.com/2017/05/the-living-laboratory-how-the-university-watches-your-every-move/
Privacy is the obvious concern, and the extent to
which students have meaningfully consented to
what’s happening is dubious. Common justifications
like “safety and security” and “enhancing the student
experience” reflect the genuine goals behind many
programs. But on the other hand, they operate as
rhetorical cover to mask the real danger of collecting,
for example, incredibly sensitive biometric data that
can be used to track you.
Honi Soit is the weekly student newspaper
of the University of Sydney, Australia

51. Wall Street Journal 1 July 2015 | https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/07/01/google
Not intentional racism … but algorithms have unintended effects and consequences

52. (BTW, How’re you doing with that, Google …?)

53. The Verge 12 Jan 2018 | https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/12/1688

54. Hi Ian,
Hope all is well.
This is a follow up to my previous email requesting your feedback.
What do you think about using face recognition to streamline the
check-in process?

55. Not a new controversy …

56. Ventriloquist - Own work
A scanned copy of a punched card given to me by a hydrologist around fifteen years ago.
• CC BY-SA 3.0
• File:Punched Card.jpg
• Created: 1 April 1997
Found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card#/media/File:Punched_Card.jpg

57. Hollerith Card
“In 1936, it became mandatory for each Dutch
municipality to maintain a demographic record of
it’s inhabitants; by 1939, each citizen had to carry
a persoonkaart or personal identity card. Both
included a field for ‘Heritage’.”
“The Registry was maintained on punched
Hollerith cards.”
Greenfield, Adam: Radical Technologies pp60-61

58. 1940

59. http://web.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/Annes-Amsterdam/Timeline/Occupation/1943/1943/Attack-on-the-Public-Records-
Offices-on-the-Plantage-Kerklaan/#!/en/Subsites/Annes-Amsterdam/Timeline/Occupation/1943/1943/Attack-on-the-Public-
Records-Offices-on-the-Plantage-Kerklaan/

60. Wired 14 Dec 2017 | https://www.wired.c

61. EdSurge 9 April 2018 | https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-04-09-ch

62. The Telegraph 18th June 2018 | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/06/18/university-students-data-shared-private-companies/

63. 18th June 2018
The Telegraph 18th June 2018 | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/

64. Legal reactions
US: California Community Privacy Act
Data transparency and control
EU: General Data Protection Regulation
Scope: any entity processing data of EU resident
Consent and the shrink wrap license

65. The Atlantic 1MAR2012 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/reading-the-privacy-policies-you-encounter-in-a-year-would-take-76-work-days/253851/

66. The technology cat is out of the bag.

67. Uninvent? Influence? Control?
Beware external platforms.
And unintended consequences.
An example: There is evidence of LA success.
Do we have the right to ignore this evidence?
What safeguards are in place?
Some early lessons from learning analytics work in the
UK, US, France

68. Eight Dimensions of Openness
Open Purpose - be clear about the “why” and objectives
Open Ethical Framework -
Open and Inclusive Governance - learners, faculty
Open Source Software - a level of trust & transparency
Open Platform/Architecture - ditto. and alternatives. It’s early.
Open Standards - ditto
Open Algorithms -
Open Consent/Consent Management (where required)
IanDolphinviaFlickrAttribution2.0Generic (CCBY-NC-ND2.0)
Lessons of Early Learning Analytics Work
Openness as safeguard

69. Eight Dimensions of Openness
Open Purpose - be clear about the “why”
Open Ethical Framework -
Open and Inclusive Governance - learners, faculty
Open Source Software - a level of trust & transparency
Open Platform/Architecture - ditto. and alternatives. It’s early.
Open Standards - ditto
Open Algorithms -
Open Consent/Consent Management (where required)
IanDolphinviaFlickrAttribution2.0Generic (CCBY-NC-ND2.0)

70. Eight Dimensions of Openness
Open Purpose - be clear about the “why”
Open Ethical Framework -
Open and Inclusive Governance - learners, faculty
Open Source Software - a level of trust & transparency
Open Platform/Architecture - ditto. and alternatives. It’s early.
Open Standards - ditto
Open Algorithms -
Open Consent/Consent Management (where required)
IanDolphinviaFlickrAttribution2.0Generic (CCBY-NC-ND2.0)

71. March 18th
This is a perspective that is gaining ground
The Guardian 19 Mar 2018 | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/201

72. Privacy and Consent
How well does Higher Ed manage consent?
GDPR: “Automated decision making” + sensitive info
What more do we need? What level of granularity?
Mechanics of Managing Consent
Increased and increasing complexity - LTI example
Educating about purposes and rights
Enabling informed or educated consent

73. ‘Counterfactual Explanations without
Opening the Black Box: Automated
Decisions and the GDPR’
Explains impact, enables recourse/subject action
“Counterfactual explanations take a similar form to the
statement: “You were denied a loan because your annual
income was £30,000. If your income had been £45,000, you
would have been offered a loan.”
Sandra Wachter, Brent Mittelstadt, & Chris Russell
https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.00399

74. Those who produce software, including
open source communities, should be
aware of the ethical dimensions of what
they make.

76. #EthicalEdTech

77. Privacy and Ethics: The Ethical OS
Ethical OS Toolkit https://ethicalos.org/

78. https://www.ajlunited.org/

79. Articulating a Privacy & Platform Agenda
• Improve our own practice
• Ethical dimensions of software we create
• Open Algorithms in practice
• An open source platform for managing consent?
• Building dialogue and partnerships
• Help inform a broad educational response
• Educating educators
• Curriculum changes - platform, data & algorithmic literacy

80. Let the software we produce help
facilitate agency, not constrain it