{"id":25632,"date":"2023-11-24T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/?p=25632"},"modified":"2024-01-23T08:14:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T16:14:29","slug":"eff-agrees-protecting-privacy-is-the-best-way-to-address-the-internets-biggest-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/eff-agrees-protecting-privacy-is-the-best-way-to-address-the-internets-biggest-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"EFF Agrees: Protecting Privacy Is the Best Way to Address the Internet\u2019s Biggest Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is probably the best-known organization that\u2019s fighting for digital rights. It\u2019s just released a new report with a title that\u2019s certain to interest the readers of this blog. Privacy First: A Better Way to Address Online Harms<\/a> offers a wide-ranging look at some of the key problems in the online world along with suggestions for how to address them. Strikingly, it identifies one overriding factor in all these problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The truth is many of the ills of today\u2019s internet have a single thing in common: they are built on a system of corporate surveillance. Multiple companies, large and small, collect data about where we go, what we do, what we read, who we communicate with, and so on. They use this data in multiple ways and, if it suits their business model, may sell it to anyone who wants it\u2014including law enforcement. Addressing this shared reality will better promote human rights and civil liberties, while simultaneously holding space for free expression, creativity, and innovation than many of the issue-specific bills we\u2019ve seen over the past decade.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is precisely what this blog has been pointing out for years: corporate surveillance<\/a>, particularly in the form of surveillance advertising<\/a>, is one of the biggest threats to online privacy, and addressing it will reduce many of today\u2019s most serious problems. The EFF report provides an excellent explanation of how surveillance advertising lies at the heart of those issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, many people are worried about the impact of social media algorithms on children\u2019s health. The EFF points out that the aggregation of children\u2019s personal data allows predatory and exploitative ads to target children. As a consequence, if online behavioral advertising is banned, you remove most of the incentive to collect and weaponize children\u2019s preferences, along with the drive to turn children into consumers and many of the concerns about social media use by young people. As the EFF points out, this is a strategy that focuses on \u201cthe key reasons underlying these harms, rather than trying to stick a band-aid over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another concern is that law enforcement agencies will be able access personal data gathered through surveillance advertising, and from other sources. If you ban the former, there is far less data available for authorities to demand from companies. Similarly, the impact of online services on local journalism is a worry that can be addressed by cutting off the huge profits made from behavioral advertising. Instead, echoing many PIA posts<\/a>, the EFF calls for a different approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cContextual ads\u201d can limit that claimed competitive advantage and protect users from tracking. True contextual ad markets are harder for tech giants to capture. While a tech company may know everything about a reader\u2019s web history and recent purchases, no one knows more about the content of a publication than its direct publisher.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, banning surveillance advertising would reduce the disproportionate power of internet giants who derive most of their profits from exploiting these huge data stores. In turn, this would allow more competition in the social media sector, since the playing field would be less tilted in favour of bigger companies. Even worries about foreign government surveillance \u2013 for example, by China thanks to the rise of TikTok<\/a>, or indirectly through data brokers \u2013 can be assuaged by cutting off the supply of highly personal information gathered through surveillance advertising. The EFF notes that growing concerns about the implications of AI \u2013 something we wrote about back in February<\/a> \u2013 can also be lessened if privacy protections are improved in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of what new, stronger privacy laws addressing these problems should contain, the EFF has a handy checklist of key components. They include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n