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Indeed. Collecting a "type of data" tells you almost nothing about what the company collecting it could do or is going to do with that data. I think regulation
by mtgx 9y ago
Indeed. Collecting a "type of data" tells you almost nothing about what the company collecting it could do or is going to do with that data.
I think regulation around this idea may be most effective. Companies should have limits on what they can do with the data by default. If they want to use it for more, then they should not only offer a much greater degree of transparency but they should have to abide by much higher standards, too, similarly to how medical companies have to abide by much higher standards when collecting your information.
So if a company asks for location data just to use it for weather information, that could be obtained with a single click from the user. If the company intends to use that location data to allow advertisers to target you, then it should be made very clear to the user that this is what the purpose of collecting the data is. And they should need to do more than just click once on a button.
If the same company intends to give the data to electoral campaigns, then higher standards still should be imposed on that company.
The point is we need to start regulation the use of data, and not just what type of data can be collected.
- thu0nt345tnu 9y agoI don't believe that telling the user what use will be made of their data will be in any way effective. Many companies are very honest and up front about it. The problem is that the information is just too technical for a user to understand, so they ignore. They have no choice because there's no way for them to understand it anyway. Even if all companies were required to and did comply with a law like that and fully disclosed the information, the collected data would just be laundered through a third party in some way so that the terms of service were technically correct, but they could still get away with business as usual. I think these companies just need to be barred from using data in this way period. It's the only way to ensure users are protected in my opinion.
- Moru 9y agoIn the end it just doesn't matter if the user understands or not. Most people just don't care either way until it hits them personally. When the violent ex boyfriend manages to track you down even though you have a secret identity just because a mutual friend visited and unknowingly got your location on some social app.