Privacy is a hot-button issue today. With a raging war for the private data of the average consumer in full gear, there is a growing cleavage along the privacy Maginot line.
On one side are marketers, advertisers, Internet and data companies, who want unfettered access to as much personal information as possible. On the other side are a confederation of consumer advocates, privacy purists and think tanks that want to limit or disallow commercial access to personal data, altogether.
In the middle are consumers, who mostly want to keep getting as much free online stuff as possible, but who are clueless about the cost of compromised privacy. At stake are billions of dollars in advertising revenue and profits from the warehousing of rich consumer data, which are dearly valued by retailers selling everything from cars to computers.
Today, privacy has moved from the playbook of shrill consumer activists to the pinnacle of the policy agenda. In Washington, the issue has spawned countless conferences, debates and organizations devoted to finding a solution. Congress and regulatory agencies appear to be baffled by divergent paths forward.
“Big data” has made its way into the popular lexicon. We have seen the global fallout when massive databases are hacked or compromised, and recently witnessed the government’s authority to compel Internet companies to share or surrender their closely held consumer data. Yet, even as new revelations unfold on the fragility and security of data, most Americans are lost in the cloud(s) when it comes to their online personal privacy.
In this case, Google's decision to report criminal activity to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to a societal outcome that trumps privacy, any day.
Internet companies have been trying, somewhat in vain, to reassure consumers that privacy is paramount, recently arguing against mandatory privacy restrictions in favor of voluntary commitments. The advertising industry has launched an ambitious self-regulatory regimen to govern online behavioral advertising practices, and consumers are now empowered to search the web anonymously, and opt out of almost all online tracking.
We live now in a world where security reigns supreme. In the 13 years since Sept. 11, 2001, most Americans have embraced the government’s right and responsibility to thwart terrorism through advanced surveillance. We also have accepted — albeit grudgingly — government’s right to collect private information on anyone, including a national registry of suspicious citizens, organizations and events. With limited constitutional restraint, the courts have balanced this power by presuming such data collection is in the interest of national security and inures to the greater good. On that there should be little discord, Edward Snowden notwithstanding.
For many citizens today, though, the main concern is no longer government intrusion, but the compilation of data by private concerns--"Big Brother" by another name. In a world where "the Internet of things" is an emerging reality, the challenge for policymakers is to develop a set of rules that balance the consumer’s right to privacy against the marketer’s well-established, constitutionally protected, right to commercial speech. They also should determine whether corporations, like government, have an unencumbered right to collect, store, manipulate and otherwise use, our individual personal data.
When consumers blithely consent to let Google, Facebook and others collect their personally identifiable information as a condition of free and continued use, a social contract is formed and the veneer of privacy fades. There is scant evidence that most Americans know the true cost or character of the private information they relinquish in an ostensibly fair exchange of data for service. That certainly seems true for Millennials, including those in my own household.
As a society, we have evolved to a point where erstwhile concerns of the government as Big Brother seem almost quaint. Government collection of information has been legitimized by real world terror. Not so much when it comes to private actors--until now.
To be clear, I believe most companies are careful and responsible when it comes to the respect and protection of consumer privacy. Were it not so, the market would soon exact its due. But we must acknowledge there is problem with the lack of clear rules. In their absence, neither consumers nor commercial entities can predict what is in, or out of, bounds.
And no matter what your views on privacy, that kind of unsettled uncertainty is not good for business under any circumstances.
(c) Adonis E. Hoffman, 2014
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