Putting ethical principles into practice: the Posmo Ethics Board

The use of mobility data raises ethical challenges that go beyond technical and economic concerns. The Institute for Data Applications and Security IDAS has developed an ethical framework for Posmo as part of the InnoSuisse project. This framework guides Posmo’s ethics board to ensure responsible data handling. By emphasizing human empathy, sociocultural awareness, and transparency,  Posmo ensures ethical decision-making, fosters public trust, and promotes sustainable data practices.

The use of mobility data involves solving not only technical and economic problems but, importantly, also entails ethical challenges and threats. Posmo, as an ethical data market, has an ethics board in its structure, whose responsibilities include a broad range of influence and obligations. This twofold activity includes a strategic roadmap for ethical decision-making and tactical assessment procedure for each particular project. 

Figure 1: Schematic structure of the Posmo project.

Ethical decision-making processes influences each stage of the data lifecycle. At the data collection stage, Posmo informs its partners about the content, timing, and purposes of data collection to obtain voluntary consent from participants, as well as about the possibilities of controlling this process. The data handling phase includes the function of subjects controlling their own data, as well as recording the obtained data and requests for its use.

Data buyers can use the mobility data of contributors exclusively for implementing projects that align with the ethical values of the Posmo Data Market. Therefore, the cooperative ethical code, approved by its members, is published on the company’s website. All requests for mobile data submitted to Posmo, both approved and rejected, are recorded in the relevant documentation. In case of a project rejection, potential data buyers are provided with a clear and justified explanation of the reasons and the nature of disagreements in the feasibility of the project. The process of evaluating a project based on a request for mobility data is carried out in two stages. From the moment a request is registered on the Posmo website, the ethics board conducts an evaluation of the project based on the criteria of the stated project goals and potential risks, harms, and benefits for the data subjects and the public, as well as compliance with Posmo’s ethical principles and values. Strict adherence and a low level of potential risks are the basis for initiating the project. The presence of minor disagreements and a medium level of potential risks is a reason to suspend the project. In this case, the ethics board provides clear recommendations for data buyers regarding changes needed in the project content. In the case of significant disagreements in the context of data ethics and a high level of potential risks to data subjects and society, the project is rejected. Such a preliminary decision by the ethics committee significantly saves time and costs for potential data buyers.

The second stage of evaluating a project involves the assessment of the analysis results in the context of compliance with existing standards, legal requirements, and ethical recommendations in data use, transparency and environmental friendliness, and its potential impact on data subjects, and society. Data subjects, as well as data buyers, can suspend their cooperation with Posmo at any time by informing the administration of the cooperative. The process is described in the Posmo article published on 24th of January.

The decision-making process by the ethics board requires not to be a judge but an advisor on how to implement a project according to a ‘win-win’ scenario. Moreover, this process cannot and should not be automated. The ethical focus of decision-making involves engaging qualities of human empathy, understanding the sociocultural context, and moral foundations of choice. Moreover, mobility data includes sensitive content, the use of which can lead to various consequences. Therefore, the decision-making process is associated with responsibility and accountability, which cannot be automated. In each individual case, prioritizing ethical norms and social values over economic gain may seem irrational or an incorrect decision. Furthermore, the content of moral norms is dynamic, changing over time. Ethical issues are controversial and complex, that is why they are often referred to as dilemmas. Therefore transparency in their adoption and implementation is necessary. Only through this approach is it possible to form public trust and stable development in data usage.

From a technical standpoint, automating the decision-making process is also unlikely. Mobility data is often multi-dimensional, dynamic, and context-dependent, as it describes human behavior. An automated approach to their use can negatively affect their quality and informativeness. Mobility data often needs to be integrated with existing systems and infrastructures, which can be diverse and complex. Resolving all these technical difficulties, if possible, is very resource-intensive.

About the project

The Posmo (POSitive MObility) cooperative collects mobility data of a quality not previously available in Switzerland. The data is not only used as a basis for decision-making for the design of more sustainable mobility, but is also made available in a data market for research, urban development or mobility planning. The aim of the cooperative is not to make a profit, but to make an important contribution to a better future for Switzerland. As mobility data is highly sensitive under data protection law, Posmo has developed an initial concept for the ethical data market in an earlier Innocheque project together with researchers from the Institute for Data Applications and Security IDAS, which is now to be further developed.

Further information can be found here.