‘Contextual Integrity: Privacy as Data Governance’ | Talk by Prof. Helen Nissenbaum, Cornell Tech

The National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, along with the Infosys Science Foundation is organising a talk on January 9, 2025 by Prof. Helen Nissenbaum from Cornell Tech, New York, on the topic “Contextual Integrity: Privacy as Data Governance.” The talk will be delivered on the NLSIU campus at 5 pm.

About the Speaker

Helen Nissenbaum is the Andrew H. and Ann R. Tisch Professor of Information Science and the founding director of the Digital Life Initiative at Cornell Tech. Her research spans issues of bias, trust, security, autonomy, and accountability in digital systems, most notably, privacy as contextual integrity. Professor Nissenbaum’s publications include the books Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest, with Finn Brunton (MIT Press, 2015), Values at Play in Digital Games, with Mary Flanagan (MIT Press, 2014), and Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life (Stanford, 2010). These, along with numerous research articles, have been translated into seven languages, including Polish, Chinese, and Portuguese. She received the 2014 Barwise Prize from the American Philosophical Association and the IACAP Covey Award for computing, ethics, and philosophy. Professor Nissenbaum has also contributed to privacy-enhancing free software, such as TrackMeNot (designed to prevent the profiling of web search histories) and AdNauseam (designed to counter profiling based on ad clicks). She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University and a B.A. (Hons) in Philosophy and Mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

An overview of her publications is available here: https://nissenbaum.tech.cornell.edu/ 

Abstract of the talk 

Contextual Integrity (CI) is a different way of defining privacy – not as secrecy and not as control over personal information but as appropriate flow. It answers an urgent societal need for a definition that is meaningful, explains why privacy is ethically compelling, and points to how we may protect it through law, regulation, and technology. My talk will review key theoretical ideas behind contextual integrity, provide evidence of its empirical robustness, and explain why successful regulation of privacy needs to be accompanied by effective data governance, aimed at protecting legitimate societal institutions (“contexts”) and their associated ends and values.

About the Infosys Science Foundation

The Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust, was set up in 2009 by Infosys and members of its Board, with the objective of encouraging, recognizing, and fostering world class scientific research connected to India. The Foundation furthers its objectives primarily through the Infosys Prize an annual award, to honor outstanding achievements of researchers and scientists in six categories – Economics, Engineering & Computer Science, Humanities & Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences. The Foundation also partners with educational institutions around the world to host lectures featuring Infosys Prize laureates and jurors aiming to spark curiosity and inspire the next generation of scholars. The Foundation creates conversations around science and society, engaging with various sections of the community, through talks, initiatives, workshops and training.