Dawn E. Schrader

Privacy-Aware Design Principles for Information Networks

Privacy has become a critical topic in the engineering of networked systems. Electronic surveillance, both covert and overt, has a negative impact on both the individual and society, and the publics perception of engineered systems that forsake the privacy issue is increasingly negative. Engineers and computer scientists thus have a moral obligation to avoid design choices that are unnecessarily privacy invasive. To fully illustrate this point, we provide an overview of the philosophical, legal, moral, and epistemological literature on the subject of privacy and related implications of its invasion. We then introduce a series of privacy-aware design principles that lead to less invasive information technologies. We develop a smart grid/demand response case study to illustrate the impact of the proposed design rules that protect individual privacy and promote understanding of ethical issues underlying the need for privacy for individuals and society.

Economic analysis of privacy-aware Advanced Metering Infrastructure adoption

Demand response systems primarily seek to reduce demand levels during periods of high load and increase demand as necessary in the off-peak hours. The objective of this flattening of the demand curve is to curb the need for generators to frequently ramp up or down and to reduce peak load levels. This, in turn, would potentially decrease the aggregate production cost of electricity. One of the most effective known methods of accomplishing this is to use Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), an intelligent metering technology that collects temporally precise consumer electricity usage data and relays it to the local utility. Because AMI modules collect fine granularity consumer data, a significant threat to consumer privacy exists, as this data can be shared or sold by the utility to interested third parties. A privacy-aware AMI module can be used to avoid this inherent danger by protecting an individual consumers data using public key infrastructure. However, while privacy-aware AMI would be preferred by consumers, utilities would naturally prefer non-privacy-aware modules, as they could profit from the sale of consumer usage data. Therefore, it is not clear what regulatory structure should be implemented in determining what type of AMI to offer consumers and with what regulations. In this paper, we examine two possible regulatory regimes using consumer decision theory and determine the economic conditions required for privacy-aware AMI adoption at equilibrium under both regimes. Finally, we predict the privacy-aware AMI adoption rates for each regime and provide regulatory recommendations.

Evolutionary Paradigm Shifting in Moral Psychology in Kohlberg’s Penumbra

Lawrence Kohlberg’s moral developmental psychological theories dominated most of the 20th century and continue to influence moral psychology today. Yet “times they are a-changin”—to quote American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan circa the same era. The constructivist, social constructivist, developmental moral psychological paradigm is under threat of obsolescence.

Moral Metacognition in Adolescence and Adulthood

Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, has been studied extensively in the domains of memory, reading comprehension, and knowledge acquisition (e.g., Baker & Brown, 1984; Brown, 1980; Flavell, 1978, Flavell, 1985; Markman, 1979). Yet little empirical research on metacognitive thinking exists in the social domain. How do we think about our thinking when problems arise between two people or between people and institutions? Between our social-moral obligations and relationships and our moral ideals?