Designing Ethical Algorithms

Algorithms drive critical decisions such as which patient is seen or who is offered insurance. Such algorithmic decisions, like all decisions, are biased and make mistakes. Yet, who is responsible for managing those mistakes? This article focuses on the responsibility of developers and users of algorithms to ensure algorithms support good decisions — including managing mistakes. First, while mistakes may be unintentional, ignoring or even fostering mistakes is unethical. Second, by creating inscrutable algorithms, which are difficult to understand or govern in use, developers may voluntarily take on accountability for the role of the algorithm in a decision

PSA Perspectives

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Disturbance-based Management And Plant Species Change In Massachusetts Sandplain Heathlands Over The Past Two Decades

Massachusetts sandplain heathlands are habitats of conservation concern, harboring many rare plant species and providing habitat for animals that depend on openlands. These heathlands are threatened by human development, shrub encroachment in the absence of disturbance, and potentially increasing soil nutrient levels. Sandplain heathlands are managed with prescribed fire, in order to maintain their open structure and maintain species diversity. In order to assess how past management was correlated with species change, I used a data set that spanned twenty years from three different heathlands in Massachusetts. I looked for correlations between management and species change. Correlations between species change and prescribed burning were very site, or microsite, specific, indicating that variables such as vegetation type and edaphic characteristics need to be taken into account before management is applied. Prescribed fire was also associated with an increase in ruderal species in one of the sites studied, indicating that there may be undesirable effects of prescribed fire in this system. Species diversity was negatively associated with shrub encroachment, reinforcing the importance of preventing shrubs from encroaching into these heathlands. I also found evidence that burning has not been a successful technique in preventing shrub encroachment in these sites. Lastly, the nitrophilic species Carex pensylvanica increased in all three sites, indicating that future studies should investigate the possibility that sandplain heathlands are currently experiencing nitrogen deposition beyond their critical loads

Privacy Governance for Institutional Trust (Or Are Privacy Violations Akin to Insider Trading?)

Currently, we frame individuals online as in a series of exchanges with specific firms, and privacy, accordingly, is governed to ensure trust within those relationships. However, the focus on the relationship between consumers and specific firms does not capture how the online environment behaves. The aggregation and secondary use of consumer data is performed by market actors behind the scenes without any relationship with consumers. Trusting a single firm is not enough; individuals must trust the online market in general. Such institutional trust has gone under-examined in regards to privacy online. Little has been done to measure how aggregating and using consumer data supports a larger online market and impacts institutional trust online. This paper explores how privacy governance should also be framed as protecting a larger market to ensure consumers trust being online. In a series of studies, I empirically examine (a) how typical secondary uses are judged along a generalized (for the good of the market) versus reciprocal (for the good of the consumer) exchange and impact institutional and consumer trust, and (b) whether governance mechanisms (limitations on the use of data such as adequate notice, auditing, non-identifiable information, limited storage, etc.) increase consumer trust in companies. I find: Respondents find secondary uses of consumer data more appropriate if judged more within a generalized exchange (academic research) or within a reciprocal exchange (product search results) or both (credit security). However, most secondary uses of data are deemed privacy violations and decrease institutional trust online. Using privacy notices is the least effective governance mechanism of those included here whereas being subject to an audit was as effective as using anonymized data in improving consumer trust. Institutional trust online impacts a consumer’s willingness to engage with a specific online partner in a trust game experiment. The findings have implications for public policy and practice. Secondary uses of information online need not only be justified in a simple quid-pro-quo exchange with the consumer but could also be justified as appropriate for the online context within a generalized exchange. However, the majority of secondary uses currently popular cannot be justified as within either a general exchange or a reciprocal exchange and are judged inappropriate, violations of privacy, and decrease both interpersonal and institutional trust. Second, if privacy violations hurt not only interpersonal consumer trust in a firm but also institutional trust online, then privacy would be governed similar to insider trading, fraud, or bribery—to protect the integrity of the market. Punishment for privacy violations would be set to ensure bad behavior is curtailed and institutional trust is maintained rather than to remediate a specific harm to an individual

The Transition Zone: Impact of Riverbanks on Emergent Dragonfly Nymphs. Implications for Riverbank Restoration and Management

The use of riprap in the restoration and stabilization of riverine landscapes is an issue of concern for many ecologists. While current methods of bank stabilization, especially those involving the placement of rocks (riprap) along the waterline, are effective in controlling erosion their presence changes habitat components (slope, substrate composition, near-shore river velocity) at the river-land interface. The additional impacts of river current, water temperature, soil composition, slope, and water level fluctuation, may further imperil emerging nymphs. The purpose of this research is to document the effects of riprap, location (upriver or downriver of hydroelectric intake/outtake facilities), water level fluctuation, river velocity, air temperature, water temperature, substrate temperature, and soil composition on the distance traveled to eclosure site by G. vastus and S. spiniceps, and the density of S. spiniceps, G. vastus, N. yamaskanensis, D. spinosus, O. rupinsulensis, M. illinoiensis, and E. priniceps. Knowledge of the conservation status of these species is fairly limited, although S. spiniceps (threatened), G. vastus (species of special concern), and N. yamaskanensis (species of special concern) are all currently listed on the Massachusetts Endangered Species list. Species density was determined through exuviae collection, and emergence distance was recorded from the edge of the waterline to the site of attached exuviae. Results of the study indicate that nymphal response to the observed abiotic features varies both with location and species. The presence of riprap had no significant effect on densities of S. spiniceps, G. vastus, N. yamaskanensis, D. spinosus, O. rupinsulensis, M. illinoiensis, and E. priniceps, but did significantly reduce the distance traveled from the waterline by both G. vastus and S. spiniceps