Do you support Government intervention when it comes to tech privacy?

Question

Recently Apple CEO Tim Cook has urged the U.S Government to consider the idea of a federal privacy bill, protecting users privacy rights from the get go. No doubt being brought to the forefront with all the recent Facebook scandals, do you support this idea? 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/22/20978140/tim-cook-apple-federal-privacy-bill-facebook-breakup-big-tech

Juliet Oberding · Accepted Answer

My concern is whether the regulation is drafted to protect individual rights as opposed what a big tech company thinks should be the appropriate level of protection. And despite Cook's support of a privacy bill, the iPhone still contributes to significant ad tracking. Check out Mozilla's recent article.

Catherine Crandall · Answer

Until this month, this topic was theoretical for me, but I’ve recently attracted a Twitter troll (I wrote about it here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dear-twitter-catherine-crandall/), when the issue became personal. My troll has been targeting my business and family members, impersonating both me and my business and spewing misinformation and hate.

It's clear that someone has combed the internet to uncover my personal information - they have gone so far as to contact my ex-husband (he’s had a good laugh about this) and even my young adult nephews. To make it a bit harder for my troll to do their dirty work, I worked to make my home address even more difficult to find - so I now have a first-hand understanding of the need for government intervention in terms of online privacy enforcement.

A couple of the major data re-sellers offer opt-out pages that are broken: the links don't work! The next available method is for me to navigate a voicemail system and lengthy hold times, and then demand that a "customer service" representative wipe my data from the site. I’m pressure to pay a fee in order to take control of my own data, and when I insist my data belongs to me alone they offer lame excuses. I noticed something else: a couple of the personal data reseller sites require that if I am requesting an opt-out, I have to select one of two options, stating that I lived in either the EU or in California, where there are rigorous privacy laws.  I check the California box even though I live in Washington.  Probably my request will be ignored, and they won’t inform me of that decision.

A lesson for other Makers: as an early-stage entrepreneur, like many of you I originally registered my business entity, trademark registration etc. at my home address. With the pending launch of our product, I had already taken steps to establish a corporate address. I notified the Secretary of State of my our updated address. Next, I set about to wipe my personal details from the internet.

I think I've been mostly successful. I attribute this less to opt-out policies, and more to the fact that I've worked to remove my address from public sites for the past decade. Some sites demand that I mail in a signed statement, with copies of my identification.

The difficulties I've encountered with my own quest for data privacy have informed me of the need on my own site to allow every user of the "right to be forgotten." This is specifically spelled out in our privacy policy. As an entrepreneur, I know that tracking can improve the customer experience, but I also believe that the customer should always be provided with a straightforward way lock down and withhold their private data. Government regulation is needed because unfortunately tech companies don't always put the needs of customers ahead of their own.

Emily Singley · Answer

i dont know

Do you support Government intervention when it comes to tech privacy?

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