Anatomy of a New Data Science Course in Privacy, Ethics, and Security

Abstract

This paper is an experience report describing a course created for the new Master of Data Science program at the University of British Columbia. The course is meant to give students an overview of important and relevant concepts in the security world with a natural bridge to privacy and ethics topics. We do not focus on traditional ethical theories in this course, but rather we explore information ethics and the relationship between human dignity and privacy. This course may be of interest to educators attending WCCCE because of its importance in an age of "Big Data"; the increasing and alarming number of real-world privacy, ethics, or security breaches/compromises; and the expectation of some employers that data scientists have an understanding of---and an appreciation for---appropriate management of personal data. We are aware that some schools do not offer a course on these topics at the undergraduate or graduate level; so, this paper might stimulate some ideas for initiating such a course.