Reflection Post
California Leads Way for a Federal Privacy Laws
Over the past few weeks I have been reading a lot about laws that effect technology, and how these laws have been changing drastically over the year. In May, Europe began restricting how businesses acquired personal data through the General Data Protection Regulation. In March, the Cloud Act was introduced, which allows US government to subpoena data regardless of where it is stored. In June, California passed a law similar to that of the General Data Protection Regulation, that allows people to know what information businesses are collecting and how. During the month of September the US Senate held a committee to discuss antitrust and net neutrality law changes. In the past week, there have been even more changes. California signed a new net neutrality law that has in turn frustrated the FCC and the justice department. The California law directly bans zero-rating data, or in other words, letting service providers bundle free access to certain sites, while the FCC law does not.
President Trump has threatened to sue over the nature of the laws subversion to government deregulation. The new law aims to increase a free market in the tech industry, which is something President Trump isn’t the biggest fan of. In June, Trump ordered a slow down to the shut down of coal and nuclear power plants that are falling behind in the market to clean energy. In a response to President Trumps statement, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, stated that: “California will not allow a handful of power brokers to dictate sources for information or the speed at which websites load.” (Porter, 2018)
However, California’s law might have another enemy as well. Facebook, Google, and IBM have been lobbying to outline their own version of a federal privacy law that would allow them to choose how personal information is handled, while also cancelling any state policies. The Information Technology Industry Council fears that California’s law could influence other states, and as predicted, over 30 states have also started to look at revising their own net neutrality laws.
These legal discussions and changes have been a rapid attempt at trying to keep up with the ever growing technological world, and people are paying attention. The wealth of information available from leading news sources show how the concern over privacy and data sharing are universal, but clearly not everyone agrees. Privacy advocates urge that personal data sharing be minimized, but does this include all data sharing or just when used for advertising, and who gets to pick?
Personal data has also been used as a way to test user experience and usability. In an article by Aarron Walter, this type of data sharing is described as a way to improve service as well as a way to see patterns that would otherwise not have been thought of. The Nielson Norman Group, a research-based user experience company states that the safest way to affectively attain personal information is to ask for it. However, their website notes that often, when a person is asked, they will decline to give up their personal information. Is this possibly why companies like Facebook have never asked? The technology companies version of a federal privacy law would include a “transparency” policy, showing how they are using the data, yet they could still attain it without permission.
There have been several studies asking users when its okay for their personal data to be shared. The trends show that the younger a user is the less they care about sharing their personal data. Another trend shows that people feel more comfortable sharing when they are paying for a service.
Should opt-in personal data sharing be a part of a new federal privacy law? Would the general user even use it, or have we gotten so used to our personal data just being collected that we wouldn’t think of it?
Sources:
https://www.loginworks.com/blogs/10-must-known-things-about-gdpr-principles/
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/users-real-data/
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/1/17922674/us-government-sues-california-over-net-neutrality-law
Amber Pasiak 