Graphic by Anjali Rao ’22
BY REILLY DENNEDY ’23
In a world increasingly dependent upon social networks, data is bought and sold as one of today’s most prominent commodities. Companies sell user data to other companies without users’ knowledge or consent. Although many claim this is inevitable in the era of data commercialization, we must remember that data privacy is possible.
It is also a human right.
The right to privacy is listed in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. A UN General Assembly resolution titled “The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age” states, “The rapid pace of technological development enables individuals all over the world ... to undertake surveillance, interception and data collection, which may violate or abuse human rights, in particular the right to privacy.”
Data is power, as it allows people to be manipulated.
Ethically accessing data is essential now that phones are in pockets wherever people go. Many “free” applications on smartphones have access to the locations of users at all times, allowing this data to be sold for marketing purposes.
In 2016, the European Union (EU) instituted the General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR). GDPR is a game changer for privacy rights because it applies to all services that process the data of European citizens. The regulation requires platforms to opt in to sharing their data, notify consumers when there is a breach and allow consumers to erase this data. This is likely only the first of this kind of policy surrounding data privacy and, as a policy which applies to all platforms with access to citizens of the EU, it is huge.
Data privacy impacts people on interpersonal levels. Someone with access to explicit imagery of another may post the images online, or threaten to do so, in order to extort them. This phenomenon is called “revenge porn” and Massachusetts, unlike other states, has yet to enact legislation to protect people from it, despite Governor Charlie Barker’s efforts to do so. This issue disproportionately affects some genders, as there is a double standard between the sexual “deviancy” our culture accepts from men versus that of any other gender. In this way, data privacy also has to do with living in an equitable society.
Our right to privacy is essential to a free, equitable society. The ability for us to navigate all platforms with the promise of informed consent and access to our data is profound. Data privacy is more than put- ting tape over laptop cameras and not telling people our passwords; it is a civil right that our government needs to create legislation to protect.