The Power Over Private Information in Big Data-Society: Power Structures of User-generated Data Manifested by Privacy and Data Policies

The starting point of this thesis is the managing of user-generated data in the online ecosystem and expanding development of big data. Many are worried that companies and authorities are invading their online privacy, and the lack of control by the provider of data, the citizens, can be considered one of our time’s most pressing civil rights issues. At the same time, media and information literacy become more and more important for the ability to actively be part of society. Libraries have an educational role to gain awareness of information issues, which includes privacy issues. The aim of this study is to investigate the power structures of privacy, ownership, gathering, store and use, of user-generated data, through the discourses manifested by privacy and data policies of social media services. This is done by deploying a theoretical framework of power and language with critical discourse analysis, CDA, and of mechanisms of privacy with communication privacy management, CPM, theory, complemented by a discursive understanding of power and normative manifestation in online interfaces. Methodologically the study is conducted by a critical discourse analysis of the privacy and data policies of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, Youtube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit, Linkedin and Ello. An interface analysis is also conducted on the same social media services’ mobile phone applications and websites, pre and post login. By this, different discourses are identified. The companies claim that the users’ privacy is something valuable and important but this is not mirrored by the interfaces, where links to privacy policies mainly are placed in the bottom of pages and menus. In the policies privacy is constructed as possession, claiming to belong to, and be controlled by, the user. However, later statements contest this by manifesting great restrictions on both ownership and control. At the same time, the language of the policies is used to portray the user as responsible for all of the services’ practices. The policies of Reddit and Ello constitute exceptions in some respects and also express discursive struggle. In conclusion, this study shows that power in the policies is manifested by uncertainties, the users’ lack of control and influence and the social media companies’ lack of transparency

AI and Patients’ Rights : Transparency and information flows as situated principles in public health care

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) for medicine and health care is rapidly evolving. However, the automation, scale and data dependency of AI-driven decision-making and decision-support calls for a reassessment of principal ethical and legal norms of transparency, in the light of these novel methodologies. The quality of AI-driven health care, we argue, is depending on it. In this chapter, we provide an overview of novelties that AI in health care bring about, in order to identify key aspects potentially affecting current legal and normative (medical ethical) principles related to transparency and explainability. We develop a conceptual framework on transparency in general and explainability in particular, in relation to AI in health care. Further, we analyse principal and normative legal frameworks of patients’ rights relating to transparency and explainability – e.g., right to information, autonomy and privacy – within Sweden and the EU. Doing so, we outline main challenges in the implementation of AI in, primarily public, health care. We argue that there is an interdependency between health care quality and transparency. As transparency is not a binary state, but something that is situated in information practices, it is important to consider what kind of transparency is needed to safeguard the best possible health care. We find that meaningful and contextual transparency and explainability of AI-systems and methodologies is necessary to adhere to the basic principles of normative and legal frameworks of Swedish health care, including patient autonomy. In addition, meaningful and contextual transparency is also a prerequisite for assessing if the best possible care is given to the one most in need

Four Facets of AI Transparency

Transparency in artificial intelligence (AI) can mean many things, but at the same time, it is currently a central focus for both scientific and regulatory attention. We seek to critically unpack this conceptual vagueness. This is particularly called for given recent focus on transparency in much of AI policy. To this end, we construct our analysis of AI Transparency into four facets. Firstly, (1) explainability (XAI) has become an expanding field in AI, which we argue needs to be complemented by more explicit focus on the (2) mediation of AI-systems functionality, as a communicated artefact. Furthermore, in the policy discourse on AI, the importance of (3) literacy is underscored. We draw from the rich literacy literature in order to show both promising and troubling consequences of this. Lastly, we unpack transparency as a form of governance, within a (4) legal framework encompassing a structure of trade-offs. By these four facets we aim to bring more clarity to the multifaceted concept of transparency in AI

The effect of N, C, Cr, and Nb content on silicon nitride coatings for joint applications

Ceramic coatings are an alternative to achieve or maintain a high wear resistance of metallic surfaces, and simultaneously allow for a reduction in metal ion release. Silicon nitride based (SiNx) coatings deposited by high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) have shown potential for use in joint implants seen from an improved chemical stability in combination with a good adhesion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of N, C, Cr and Nb content on the tribocorrosive performance of 3.7 to 8.8 µm thick SiNx coatings deposited by HiPIMS onto CoCrMo discs to improve  the mechanical properties and/or chemical stability of SiNx . Coating composition was evaluated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the surface roughness by Vertical Scanning Interferometry (VSI). Hardness and Young’s modulus were investigated by nanoindentation and coating adhesion was measured by scratch tests. Multidirectional wear tests against UHMWPE pins were performed for 2 million cycles in bovine serum solution (25%) at 37°C, at an estimated contact pressure of 2.1 MPa. Coatings with a relatively low hardness tended to fail earlier in the wear test, due to chemical reactions and eventually dissolution, accelerated by the tribological contact. In fact, while no definite correlation could be observed between coating composition (N: 42.6-55.5 at%, C: 0-25.7 at%, Cr: 0 or 12.8 at%, and Nb: 0-24.5 at%) and wear performance, it was apparent that high-purity and/or -density coatings (i.e. low oxygen content and high nitrogen content) were desirable to prevent coating and/or counter surface wear. Coatings deposited with a higher energy fulfilled the target profile in terms of low surface roughness (Ra<20nm), adequate adhesion (Lc2>30N), chemical stability over time in the tribocorrosive environment, as well as low polymer wear, presenting potential for a future application in joint bearings.This research was funded by the European Union, grant number FP7-NMP-2012-310477 (Life Long Joints project); EBW+ Project Erasmus Mundus Programme, Action 2 – STRAND 1, Lot 9 (Latin America), Brazil, Grant number 2014-0982 and Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linköping University (Faculty Grant SFO Mat LiU No. 2009 00971)