GIS4102 Participation Assignment #1: Ethics and Privacy Issues in the Use of GIS

The following is a summary of Ethics and Privacy Issues in the Use of GIS by Amy J. Blatt, Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 8:80-84, 2012.

The increasing use of GIS across diverse disciplines includes ethics and privacy matters which Amy J. Blatt addresses in "Ethics and Privacy in the Use of GIS". Blatt focused on academic map and geography libraries' handling and distribution of geospatial datasets which are now being distributed to health care delivery and service providers outside the realm of medical research. Blatt stresses that map and geography librarians must be aware of privacy and ethics issues when individuals' personal health and cadastral data are used including in planning and medical geography. For instance, public health researchers can obtain patient records for research purposes. This information (names, addresses, phone, social security numbers, account numbers, images, etc.) is protected by HIPAA's privacy rules to prevent unauthorized use and must be protected while being transferred electronically.

Blatt also discussed planning. Cadastral datasets can include owner's name, address, assessed value, property boundaries, and more. At the time of the article's publication, there was little federal protection of this information. Local municipalities and jurisdictions allow individual, personal information to be made public as they see fit. (Identical information collected by the US Census Bureau may not be published.) Since there are no laws forbidding acquiring and cross-referencing parcel data and individual sales data, a market research firm could do this legally, although it would raise ethical issues.

Blatt suggests that map and geography libraries ensure that HIPAA regulations are followed when handling and distributing personal medical data; include comprehensive metadata with all datasets, and develop codes of conduct which address uses (ethical and unethical) of geospatial data. She concludes with stating that when no federal laws govern the use of geospatial data, individuals are responsible for determining whether their use of GIS (proposed or intended) would be viewed as unethical by those affected.

While searching for an article to summarize, the following article and website of interest were also discovered:

http://www.spatial.maine.edu/~onsrud/GISlaw.htm link to additional resources (hasn’t been updated for a few years)

http://www.geolawpc.com/faq.html law firm specializing in “spatial law”