(2023-11-14) Eff Privacy First A Better Way To Address Online Harms

EFF on Privacy-First: A Better Way to Address Online Harms. Many of the ills of today’s internet have a single thing in common: they are built on a system of corporate surveillance (Surveillance Capitalism). Multiple companies, large and small, collect data about where we go, what we do, what we read, who we communicate with, and so on

if it suits their business model, may sell it to anyone who wants it—including law enforcement.

whatever online harms you want to alleviate, you can do it better, with a broader impact, if you do privacy first.

Some examples:

Worried about how social media algorithms are affecting children’s mental health? (algorithmic feed)

If you ban online behavioral advertising, you remove most of the incentive to collect and weaponize children’s preferences to get them to buy more things

Worried about how law enforcement might use apps we rely on to prosecute patients or health-care providers, whether in reproductive care, trans care or otherwise? Pass legislation preventing the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of data beyond what is strictly necessary to give the user what they asked for

Worried that Big Tech is undermining local journalism? Privacy protection can help level the playing field. If you protect privacy by banning surveillance-driven “behavioral advertising” (or even make it truly opt-in, as Apple recently did) you take away much of the edge that the giants now enjoy.

Comprehensive privacy legislation won’t fix everything.

Breaking it Down: What Does Comprehensive Data Privacy Legislation Look Like?

Specifically, a real privacy law must include the following components:

No online behavioral ads.

Real minimization. Companies must be prohibited from processing a person’s data

Strong opt-in consent.

User rights

No preemption by a federal law. Federal privacy law must be a floor and not a ceiling.

Strong enforcement with meaningful impact. People must have a private right of action to sue the corporations that violate their statutory privacy rights

No pay-for-privacy schemes. Just as you shouldn’t have to trade your privacy for the ability to use a service at all, you shouldn’t have to pay extra for the ability to use it without being surveilled.

No deceptive design.

Sketching the Landscape: What Real Privacy Protections Might Accomplish

Protecting Children’s Mental Health

Supporting Journalism

Protecting Access to Healthcare

Fostering Digital Justice

As a practical matter, poor people usually get poorer privacy. Corporations, governments, and others use personal data in many discriminatory ways including direct decision-making about access to vital benefits and indirect decision-making about opportunities across the board, including in job searches, housing, and pricing

Alleviating Generative AI Anxiety

Inhibiting Foreign Government Surveillance

Clearing Space for Competition

privacy is an essential part of the solution, particularly data portability rights that ensure users who don’t like a company’s privacy practices can pack up their accounts and take their data elsewhere

Conclusion

Privacy first isn’t a cure-all. The truth is, we didn’t get into this situation because of just one problem in our society and its technologies. But with this one big step in favor of privacy, we can take a bite out of many of those problems, and foster a more humane, user-friendly technological future for everyone.