Privacy's on the Platforms
46% of US Facebook users (on average) say they are very concerned with their privacy. That means one out of every two people are nervous about how their personal information is being handled online. Despite all of this Facebook increased revenue year-over-year by 50% in its latest earnings report. And after Cambridge Analytica misused the data of 87 million Facebook users, 64% of them still use Facebook at least once a day.
What is going on?
Are We Concerned or Not?
People say they’re concerned. They want their privacy protected, but we’ve all but given up on doing that ourselves. Even if every user who was concerned about Facebook actually followed through with #DeleteFacebook, they’d find themselves in the same place.
After all, Equifax and Experian leaked the personal information of 123 million U.S. households. No one signed up for these services and yet they fell victim to their mistakes.
The point is our data is everywhere. Whether you’re in the system or out of it, you’re still in it.
Being connected isn’t just a lifestyle. It’s life. It’s how we work, how we plan, how we live.
People are concerned, but most are helpless.
It’s On the Networks
GDPR, Facebook introducing a delete history option and more are underway to get personal data more under control, but while in some areas data’s becoming more controlled, the platforms are asking for more.
Google just launched a new campaign touting new features and services with the CTA “Make Google Do It.” In other words, keep feeding the machine and giving it data. The more these platforms ask for data, the more they should be required to protect it.
These platforms have made their positions as the keepers of the data inevitable. That means they should be the protectors of it as well.