Big Data Ethics: A Life Cycle Perspective

Erasmus Law Review, vol. 14, pp. 24–44

Abstract

Big Data Ethics: A Life Cycle Perspective The adoption of big data analysis in the legal domain is a recent but growing trend that highlights ethical concerns not just with big data analysis, as such, but also with its deployment in the legal domain. This article systematically analyses five big data use cases from the legal domain utilising a pluralistic and pragmatic mode of ethical reasoning. In each case we analyse what happens with data from its creation to its eventual archival or deletion, for which we utilise the concept of ‘data life cycle’. Despite the exploratory nature of this article and some limitations of our approach, the systematic summary we deliver depicts the five cases in detail, reinforces the idea that ethically significant issues exist across the entire big data life cycle, and facilitates understanding of how various ethical considerations interact with one another throughout the big data life cycle. Furthermore, owing to its pragmatic and pluralist nature, the approach is potentially useful for practitioners aiming to interrogate big data use cases.

Authors 5

1. Simon Vydra Aachen Institute for Public Administration Policy at the Institute for Public Administration

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Public Administration , Leiden University , the Netherlands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Nether-lands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Netherlands

   Policy at the Institute for Public Administration, Leiden Uni-versity, the Netherlands

2. Andrei Poamă Aachen Institute for Public Administration Policy at the Institute for Public Administration

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Digitization and Public Policy at the

   Institute for Public Administration , Leiden University , the Netherlands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Nether-lands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Netherlands

   Policy at the Institute for Public Administration, Leiden Uni-versity, the Netherlands

3. Sarah N. Giest Aachen Institute for Public Administration Policy at the Institute for Public Administration

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Nether-lands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Netherlands

   Policy at the Institute for Public Administration, Leiden Uni-versity, the Netherlands

4. Alex R. Ingrams Aachen Institute for Public Administration Policy at the Institute for Public Administration

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Public Administration , Leiden University , the Netherlands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Nether-lands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Netherlands

   Policy at the Institute for Public Administration, Leiden Uni-versity, the Netherlands

5. Bram Klievink Aachen Institute for Public Administration Policy at the Institute for Public Administration

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Public Administration , Leiden University , the Netherlands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Nether-lands

   Institute for Public Administration, Leiden University, the Netherlands

   Policy at the Institute for Public Administration, Leiden Uni-versity, the Netherlands