Data Systems (CS 165) – Fall 2021

Module Topic: Data Privacy
Module Author: Sophie Gibert

Course Level: Upper-level undergraduate
AY: 2021-2022

Course Description: “We are in the big data era and data systems sit in the critical path of everything we do. We are going through major transformations in businesses, sciences, as well as everyday life – collecting and analyzing data changes everything and data systems provide the means to store and analyze a massive amount of data. This course is a comprehensive introduction to modern data systems. The primary focus of the course is on the modern trends that are shaping the data management industry right now: column-store and hybrid systems, shared nothing architectures, cache conscious algorithms, hardware/software co-design, main-memory systems, adaptive indexing, stream processing, scientific data management, and key-value stores. We also study the history of data systems, traditional and seminal concepts and ideas such as the relational model, row-store database systems, optimization, indexing, concurrency control, recovery and SQL. In this way, we discuss both how and why data systems evolved over the years, as well as how these concepts apply today and how data systems might evolve in the future. We focus on understanding concepts and trends rather than specific techniques that will soon be outdated – as such the class relies largely on recent research material and on a semi-flipped class model with a lot of hands-on interaction in each class.”

Semesters Taught: Fall 2017, Fall 2021

Tags

• privacy (phil)
• big data (CS)
• data systems (CS)
• data sharing (CS)
• intrinsic value (phil)
• extrinsic value (phil)
• liberty (phil)
• power (phil)
• harm (phil)
• deletion (CS)
• columnar storage (CS)
• GDPR (CS]

    Module Overview

This module focuses on the questions of what privacy is, why it is valuable, and how data system design choices can promote or hinder its valuable functions. We begin with an overview of four philosophical accounts of privacy. Then, we introduce a distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic value, discuss four ways in which privacy is extrinsically valuable, and explore arguments for the claim that privacy is also intrinsically valuable. Lastly, we take a closer look at Google’s data practices and privacy policy. Students discuss the extent to which Google’s privacy policy protects privacy and the extent to which Google’s current data practices limit the valuable functions of privacy. Special attention is paid to Google’s deletion practices and the trade-offs that exist between row- and column-based data storage systems as it pertains to deletion.

    Connection to Course Technical Material

Students in this course learn about modern systems for data management and storage. They also design a columnar database in an ongoing assignment. This module gives them tools for thinking about how data practices can affect privacy and how data system design choices can promote or hinder privacy’s valuable functions

Goals

Module Goals

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. Describe four philosophical accounts of what privacy is and explain why two of them are more plausible.
2. Distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic value.
3. Identify four valuable functions of privacy.
4. Explain why one might think that privacy is also intrinsically valuable.
5. Analyze a company’s privacy policy. Make judgments about:
   1. Whether the policy protects privacy, and
   2. Whether the company’s data practices limit any of the valuable functions of privacy.

    Key Philosophical Questions

1. Why is privacy valuable? What are its important functions?
2. How much privacy is too much?
3. How can data system design choices protect or fail to protect privacy?
4. How can data system design choices limit the valuable functions of privacy?

Materials

    Key Philosophical Concepts

• Privacy
• Intrinsic value
• Extrinsic value
• Liberty of action
• Power

    Assigned Readings

• Assigned Warzel and Ngu. “Google’s 4,000-word privacy policy is a secret history of the internet.” The New York Times.
• Assigned Excerpts from Google’s current privacy policy: “Information Google collects,” “Why Google collects data,” “Your privacy controls,” “Sharing your information, “Exporting & deleting your information, and “Retaining your information.”

Implementation

Class Agenda

1. Introduction: Why data are useful; Why there’s cause for concern.
2. Philosophical accounts of what privacy is: Solitude, secrecy, limited access, control.
3. Distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic value.
4. Four valuable functions of privacy: Promotes liberty of action, protects from harm and power, allows for intimate and trusting relationships, promotes democratic ideals.
   1. Discussion of feminist critiques of privacy.
5. Privacy in practice: Brief overview of Google’s data practices and privacy policy.
6. Activity/discussion.

    Sample Class Activity

In small groups (4-5 students), students engage in a three-stage analysis of Google’s privacy policy and data practices. They are asked to discuss the following questions and subsequently to share their thoughts with the class:

1. To what extent does Google’s privacy policy protect privacy, understood as limited access and as control over personal information?
2. To what extent do Google’s data practices limit people’s liberty of action, subject them to harm and power, limit their ability to have different kinds of relationships, including intimate and trusting relationships, and hinder democratic ideals?
3. How could Google better protect privacy? Who would bear the costs?

    Module Assignment

Students receive a fact sheet on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They are asked to answer the following questions:

• Based on your understanding of the GDPR, to what extent does it protect EU citizens’ privacy? In your response, appeal to either the limited access theory or the control theory.
• As far as you can tell, to what extent does the GDPR protect EU citizens from the following consequences?
  1. Having their liberty of action limited
  2. Being subjected to harm or power
  3. Not being able to engage in different types of relationships, including intimate and trusting relationships
  4. Not being able to express dissenting political opinions

Lessons Learned

Students found the distinction between the four valuable functions of privacy to be particularly useful in thinking about the Google case. They also appreciated the different philosophical accounts of privacy.

Pedagogical lessons learned:

• Modules are more engaging and memorable to the extent that they connect with students’ own experiences. In discussing the valuable functions of privacy, it is useful to have students think about how privacy functions in their own lives—for example, what activities they would not engage in if they had no privacy, what powers they are subjected to due to our current data practices, etc.
• Assignments can reinforce learning by having students apply concepts and processes taught in class to new but related contexts.