My Public Opinion on Privacy

Graph showing that over half of Americans
believe that data collection is inevitable
(Via Pew Research Center) 

    

    After our class discussion about privacy, the thing I've found myself thinking about for the past few days was the fact that Facebook and other tech companies have contracts with the U.S. Government and their agencies. I'm most surprised by the fact that no one is talking about this. Granted, some people may be talking about it and I'm just not around them; however, I feel like I would have heard something more about it by now. These contracts are very concerning because as long as they exist, I feel like there will be very little progress made to improve privacy between big tech companies and their customers and users. If people call on Congress to make laws protecting their data and privacy from companies like Facebook and Google, the people in office could be less inclined to listen because of these contracts. 

    Not only are they partnered with the likes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but they also donate money to legislators. The Verge reported that between 2006 and 2018, Facebook donated over $7 million to different campaigns. Many of the senators and representatives that questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at his House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees hearings in 2018 received funds from his company in past years. The article does note that even though some of the lawmakers did receive funding, many did not hold back in their questioning of him. 

    With that being said, I do find it odd that there are still privacy issues with these companies when it seems like a fairly one sided argument. Why wouldn't legislators want to protect their constituents from deep pocket inspections, malware, or voice recognition software? One potential reason is because the government is benefitting from these companies data mining techniques, so they do not want to limit that or decrease any campaign funding they may be expecting. 

    It's also extremely fascinating to me how this debate over privacy is always timely, yet the specifics will be different. For example, when I was researching for this blog post, I found an article from this past Thursday regarding a privacy battle between Apple and Facebook. In short, Apple plans to make it much harder for companies, such as Facebook, to curate ads specific to people based off the data they have collected about their interests and their other activity online. Facebook claims that these personalized ads are beneficial to both users and small businesses by giving people a chance to find products and services they might enjoy and that they would not have found otherwise. 

    In conclusion, the arrangement between the U.S. Government and these tech companies speaks volumes about the way the government views our privacy. As long these contracts remain in effect, I will personally be skeptical of any actions taken by the government when it comes to improving privacy laws with companies like Facebook and Google.