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This is pretty much the same tactic finance companies are using to stem the growing political fallout. First get in front of it by acknowledging the problem, th
by boh 7y ago
This is pretty much the same tactic finance companies are using to stem the growing political fallout. First get in front of it by acknowledging the problem, then explain how you're not part of the problem, and most importantly, outsource the solution to "legislation".
- olliej 7y agoAnd then argue that they should be allowed to self regulate, and what needs to happen is the legislation limit their own liability.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y agoDon't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves.
- boh 7y agoLegislation and legislatures have already been in charge of your privacy, Google is just acknowledging that they have no interest in coming up with any real solutions that limit profitability. They're agreeing with you in this step of the PR dance, then after the heavy lobbying they're already administering, they will attempt to de-fang any potential privacy legislation, then point out government incompetence while calling for a right to self-regulate.
- scarface74 7y agoYou really trust the government to both be competent enough to legislate technology and not be beholden to private interests? The last thing I want is more government power.
- blub 7y agoUSA: bravely limping along to the worst privacy on the planet (China aside) lest the government should govern.
- hyeonwho4 7y agoLegislation is reactive rather than proactive, slow in its reaction, easily corrupted by lobbyists, and likely contains loopholes anyway. Not to mention that competent regulation acts as a barrier to entry for competitors.
- AnthonyMouse 7y ago> Don't we want companies to outsource the solution to legislation? I'd rather have Congress than Google be in charge of deciding how much privacy everyone deserves. Until the legislation is written by the industry and doesn't rein them in one bit but imposes large compliance burdens on smaller competitors and further entrenches the incumbents. The actual solution isn't corporations or governments, it's people being in control of their own stuff. Google and Facebook can't invade your privacy if your data is on your own device and not their servers.
- orcthwy012 7y agoWhat does "people being in control of their own stuff" even mean? Right now, people are in control and they choose to use software that is convenient for them, which happens to upload their data to the cloud. How do you force people to use software that doesn't do this? It's also unclear whether in practice people being in control over their devices better protects the users - back when that was the case, malware was a bigger problem than it is now.
- flukus 7y agoPeople don't choose to notify facebook that they're visiting a website that has a like button, the don't choose to let google track them across devices. Most tracking happens without any sort of awareness from users.
- orcthwy012 7y agoThey choose to use websites and software, whose developers in turn choose to send usage data to third parties. Trust in this sense is necessarily transitive. In a complex world with long supply chains, almost everything works that way - I don't get to choose every ingredient in a restaurant meal either. Either way, the point is that users do have control today and that they use this control to maximize convenience at the expense of privacy. Thus the idea that "people being in control of their own stuff" will help is kind of meaningless - they are already in control. Even choosing not to be informed is a choice - people are not informed because consequences so far have been minimal relative to other threats in their lives. My estimate is that nearly all negative consequences of lack of privacy on the internet have not been due to any sort of nefarious tracking and data gathering on the part of tech companies, but due to people voluntarily sharing information about themselves and those close to them and using various apps as intended. There's a lot of paranoia about how much data is out there, but I can't think of really any major consequences, especially given how pervasive this is all supposed to be. Meanwhile, people getting in trouble due to information they voluntarily shared is extremely common.
- djschnei 7y agoYou want congress to decide how much privacy you deserve? Yikes...
- SpicyLemonZest 7y agoI know how much privacy I want, and I take the appropriate steps to get it, even if that means not using otherwise convenient services. The question is how much privacy people should get even if they don't care or think about it.
- AstralStorm 7y agoThinking for others is essentially government. Either the elected officials govern or some random corporation or website owner does.