Overview of this Unit

The purpose of Unit 6 is to help students to be aware that digital era governments create and manage data as a function and by-product of almost every activity, and that this data can harm people in both intentional and unintentional ways.

The unit also introduces students to some of the main forms of mitigation that exist to moderate the harms that result from ubiquitous use of data intensive digital systems.

This material, developed by 'Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age', has been prepared to help university faculty to add digital era skills to the teaching of Masters in Public Policy and Masters in Public Administration programs. All these materials are based on our eight Digital Era Competencies - this Unit relates closely to Competency Number 2.

This unit is one of eight units that make up a full semester course. The units have also been designed to be used by educators independently, without students taking the rest of the course. This unit can be taught in either one or two classes.

<aside> 🚨 The harms created by governments misuse of data and digital technologies are disproportionately likely to impact groups traditionally discriminated against by both state and society. This continues to include groups such as:

People of color, indigenous peoples and migrants
Women, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with non-traditional gender identities
Children and the elderly, people with disabilities and those excluded from education

As an instructor, it is critical that you engage with and contextualize these harms within the society where you teach - harms which may be very different from one location to the next.

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This Unit's Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcome 1

By the end of Unit 6 students will be able to describe different types of harm that result from choices governments make in relation to data. This means understanding that:

There are several types of decisions that governments can make that lead to harms caused by data in particularly to historically marginalized communities. A list is available under Concept 1.
It is important that students understand and can anticipate several different types of data-related harms without unduly focusing on one type of harm over the others.

Learning Outcome 2

By the end of Unit 6 students will be able to describe different types of harm that result from choices governments make in relation to data. This means understanding that:

There are several types of decisions that governments can make that lead to harms caused by data in particularly to historically marginalized communities. A list is available under Concept 1.
It is important that students understand and can anticipate several different types of data-related harms without unduly focusing on one type of harm over the others.

Learning Outcome 3

By the end of Unit 6 students will be able to describe some of the actions governments can take to minimize data harms. This means understanding that:

A diverse and multidisciplinary team is more likely to be able to identify and solve complex problems that result in different types of harms.
'Threat modeling exercises' are a common tool for anticipating vulnerabilities in digital systems, products and services.
Auditing algorithmic decision-making systems can promote transparency and identify bias embedded in systems.
There is great value in training public servants to recognise and make use of the most common and effective security protections in workplaces, such as multi factor authentication, learning to spot phishing emails, and using password managers to avoid password re-use.
It is important to put in place appropriate legal and institutional mechanisms to protect rights and collective wellbeing from both unethical and illegal use of data by government and third party suppliers.
It is vital to establish procedures to identify, address and rectify harms that occur due to government decisions about data.
It is desirable to design standard procurement processes that mitigate against the unfair use of government data by suppliers and third parties.

Learning Outcome 4

By the end of Unit 6 students will be able to understand that there is often a trade-off between the harm prevention measures built into a system and its accessibility and usefulness. This includes:

'Security Theatre' is a phenomenon where institutions create mechanisms that make people feel more secure, but which actually do not, instead wasting resources and potentially producing feelings of false security that then drive problematic behaviors.
Legal measures designed to protect people can prevent government data from being linked, which can reduce the ability of governments protect people in other ways.
Anonymizing data about people can protect individuals, but may undermine the utility of the data when it is used to improve service delivery.

Learning Outcome 5

By the end of Unit 6 students will be able to describe how harmful uses of data can reinforce power structures that perpetuate discrimination and disadvantage in societies.