Thursday 5 May 2022 5:30pm to 6:30pm
TBC
About
Location: In-person at the Faculty of Law (LG17) / Online Webinar
Speaker: Professor Orla Lynskey, London School of Economics
Abstract: Data is a sought-after asset in modern economies and societies. It is central to the development and deployment of AI systems, for instance. As a result, increasing legal and policy attention is paid to who owns or controls existing datasets and to whether these datasets should be made more widely accessible. Synthetic data has a potentially important role to play in this picture. Synthetic data is artificially generated data that preserves or mimics the properties of a real dataset while masking or removing private information. If real datasets are simply not sufficiently plentiful, these fake datasets can fill the void, or so the argument goes. In this seminar, we will critically examine and refute two of the key claims made regarding synthetic data. First, that synthetic data is not personal data and so avoids the application of legislative frameworks like the GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act. Second, that synthetic data can be used to enhance the accuracy and fairness of data-informed decision-making. This analysis exposes deeper conceptual flaws in the data governance framework, in particular concerning the notion of personal data.
Biography: Orla Lynskey is an Associate Professor in the LSE Law School and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. She is currently hosted as a Visiting Researcher at CIPIL for Lent and Summer Terms. This paper is co-authored by Professor Michal Gal, University of Haifa and Greenbaum Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Chicago School of Law.