Ethical Considerations of Data Sharing: A Case Study From Animal Production.

The existing literature on ethics and information technology has emphasized the concept of privacy. Ethics in this context indicates the survey, analysis and sometimes debate over norms and standards for regulating the flow and access to data of all kinds. Privacy concerns emphasize the individual’s right to control information of a personal nature. The literature on privacy tends to assume one of two general problem definitions. The first concerns an alleged legal right of privacy, often traced to a seminal 1890 paper by Warren and Brandeis. The second addresses tensions that arise in connection with medical records, insurance and employability. Using these literatures as background, this paper draws upon preliminary studies focusing on traceability and monitoring for control of animal disease in livestock production settings. We argue that rationales for collecting and sharing information drawn from public health management contexts may not be adequately sensitive to a range of issues that will be important to farmers, ranchers and other producers. First, given trends in the food supply chain, producers have legitimate concerns about the shift in economic power that seemingly unobjectionable demands for data collection might precipitate. This issue may be intensified in some circumstances for Latino, Native American, and other minority producers who are sensitive to social and environmental injustices in the supply chain. Second, the rationales for managing information may challenge notions of place identity, environmental heritage, and self-reliance that are important to producers and rural communities.