Areas of Interest

Evidence-Based Policymaking

• As data scientists we understand the importance of understanding and utilizing data to answer critical policy questions.

• As STPF fellows within the legislative and executive branches of the Federal Government, it is of critical importance that we be well prepared to explain both sides of the double edged sword of data as a policymaking tool.

• In 2021 this affinity group hosted a Symposium about Data & Democracy. Co-Founder and Co-Chair Jake Pasner, then a STPF Fellow in Senator Ron Wyden's (D-OR) office, moderated a panel on Evidence-Based Policy.

• History of Evidence-Based Policymaking

  • The 2017 Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking (CEP) final report, "The Promise of Evidence-Based Policymaking" gave recommendations aimed at improving the Federal Government's utilization of government held data to answer important questions to improve American's lives.

  • The CEP's report evolved into the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act which enacted a number of these recommendations.

Public Education

• The public currently has very little appreciation of the consequences of companies having full access to their personal data

• Problem is exacerbated by the current under-regulation of data aggregator companies by federal law

• People should understand just how accessible their private information is, and what consequences that may have for their personal life

Portability

• The ability to move your personal data from one service to another will become increasingly important for consumers to maintain ownership of their identity

  • Furthermore, without this ability users are trapped into continuing to use a service they may no longer trust

  • Thus, portability is important for maintaining competition

Security

• Attempts to anonymize data to protect individuals identities have been shown to generally fail

• Security breeches are common and with the advent of quantum computing capabilities even our most advanced encryption algorithms may fail

• Aggregating data allows individual identities to be protected while still allowing researchers to address bulk properties

• The lack of regulation in industry allows for a patchwork approach to protecting the public's data thus allowing companies to regularly exploit privacy

Interoperability

• The goal is to have easy and secure channels to share private information across so that the public can access their data, companies can use data they are given access to, and researchers can analyze bulk data to solve fundamental problems our society faces