Conducting Research Using Data of Questionable Provenance

Empirical research often requires access to good datasets. Funding agencies have pushed for increased data sharing among investigators, and have established several publicly accessible repositories and data warehouses. However, the speed of progress in computing and the sensitive nature of data, especially when it pertains to security, makes access to useful datasets a challenge. At the same time, a number of data sets of questionable provenance have recently become available to researchers. As a prominent example, the author(s) of the anonymously published Internet Census 2012 project compromised a large number of open embedded devices to perform a distributed port scan of the Internet. The collected data are available for download and are arguably of great use to network researchers. This panel explores the ethics and best practices concerned with using datasets whose origin is either unknown or is morally ambiguous. In particular, the panel will debate the merits of using (or not using) the data, potential methods of verifying the integrity of anonymously published data, and safeguards for preventing misuse. Audience participation is highly encouraged.