Author Archives: Anne Zimmerman

The lack of certainty surrounding whether a causal relationship exists when large data sets provide information can create ethical dilemmas. Black-box medicine pulls together huge datasets to predict what medicines might work, primarily based on patterns rather than an understanding of disease mechanisms. (Price) The patterns can be based on genetic and biological data, canContinue reading “Black-Box Medicine and Data in Clinical Care”

Data-Generating Patents require a broad ethical approach that incorporates business ethics that foster the spirit behind antitrust law and competition to protect consumers, and privacy ethics. Intellectual property rights are expanding. Data-generating patents can preclude other ways of obtaining, collecting, or generating the same type of data. The data generated is protected as a tradeContinue reading “Big Data: Reconciling Privacy, Data-Generating Patents, and Competing Goals”