By Laini Byfield
Ethics boards
High-trust governance for high-stakes data systems — built to ask the hard questions before harm occurs.
ScopeAuthorityRisk review
What an ethics board should do
Responsibilities
- Approve new data sources and new uses of existing data
- Review re-identification and subgroup risk
- Set standards for transparency and appealability
- Require documentation of known error modes
Practical design
- Clear charter with explicit decision rights
- Regular cadence aligned to program cycles
- Escalation path for harm and critical errors
- Records of decisions and the rationale behind them
How it fits Small Data Ethics
Small Data Ethics treats governance as operational — not ceremonial. Boards must be able to say "no," require changes, and demand repair plans when systems fail. A board that can only advise is not governance.