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Can we find a win-win way in data using? | |
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< | -- By ChengyuTan - 09 Oct 2020 | >
> | -- By ChengyuTan - 30 Dec 2020 | | | | |
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< | By collecting customers' data, some companies start to provide customers with convenient services, and some people can even be benefited from that. But how can we keep a balance between privacy protection and the new development? | >
> | By collecting customers' data, some companies start to provide customers with convenient services, and some people can even be benefited from that. But is it possible for us to keep a balance between privacy protection and the new development? | | | | |
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< | My Privacy, Their Profit | >
> | The camouflage business
Since entering into the new century, more and more cab companies provide their service via smartphone apps. Instead of making a phone call, clients can request a cab service by sending a message on the smartphone, and cab companies will automatically assign the contract drivers to clients' locations. Also, the route that drivers drove will be recorded by the apps and can be reviewed afterward, meaning that detour and overcharging disputes can be reduced, since the reviewable record will deter the driver from doing that. Moreover, this development can also benefit drivers. Now, the contract driver only needs to pay the cab company $3 per month, which is a mere 3% of their previous contractual fee. To enjoy these benefits, the only thing clients need to do is to allow the apps to access their GPS function. | | | | |
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< | Cab Company’s New Business Method
Ten years ago, when I need a cab service, I need to call the cab company, and it would send its contract driver to my designated place. Now, I only need to send a message via the app the cab company will automatically send a cab to my location. Sounds convenient, right? On the other hand, the contract driver only needs to pay the cab company $3 per month, which is a mere 3% of their previous contractual fee (In Taiwan, the driver has to pay a monthly service fee of $100 to the company to enjoy the customers-introduce service.) What's a miracle! Why is the cab company willing to give up 97% of its income? | >
> | Why are cab companies willing to do that? That is because they can find another way to fill up its pocket. By tracking clients' smartphones, the cab companies can obtain clients' current locations, clients' routes and their destinations. Then, the cab companies can send them the targeted advertisings that focus on that data. | | | | |
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< | The Advertisement Business
The cab company finds a new way to fill up its pocket. By tracking my cellphone, the cab company can obtain my current location, my route and my destination. Then, the cab company can send me the targeted advertisings that focus on that data. Advertisers may be a cafe shop near my current location, or a gift shop around my destination. The advertisement income can totally cover its previous loss. | >
> | Cab companies are not the only ones who adopt this new development. Car insurance companies and digital payment systems are also the members of the group. Usage-based insurance allows insurers to reduce their premiums if they have good driving habits. But how car insurance companies know your driving habits? well, clients need to install a GPS device in their cars, allowing car insurance companies to track their path and analyze their habits. About payment systems, they will provide discounts to clients if clients use their systems on shopping. Do payment systems receive any return? Of course, clients' sopping details are priceless treasures for them. | | | | |
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< | Do I lose my privacy?
The answer is clear. In order to market its advertising service to advertisers, the cab company will definitely need to demonstrate the efficiency of its targeted advertising - it can always display the advertisement that may appeal to me. To reach that goal, the cab company, without debate, will collect all data it received, including my age, gender, location, destination, the time I took the cab and my payment method, so that it can infer my domicile, workplace, work time, even my preferences, traits and interests. The more data is collected by the company, the more the company knows about me. But my privacy was lost slowly during this practice. | >
> | Now, a tendency is shown. Business providers have a new way to make fortune: letting themself become an advertisement company or a data analysis company. Their original businesses become a camouflage Business to cover their behavior collection behavior. | | | | |
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< | In Search of Lost Privacy
It is true that my privacy was lost in the cab company's new business method; however, the new method reduces the driver's monthly service fee, which benefits a great number of drivers. Moreover, by using the GPS system, the route will be recorded and can be reviewed afterward, meaning that detour and overcharging disputes can be reduced, since the reviewable record will deter the driver from doing that. In my opinion, we should not abandon this new business method, since it is a progress which benefits either driver and ourselves. But it doesn't mean that we should continue allowing the cab company to exploit our data without limitation. Instead, we should try to find a way to create a win-win situation. Below is some of my idea:
Transparency and Right to Request to Delete
The data that the company collects involves our privacy rights which should be considered as a part of "human dignity and the free development of personality". And the protection of human dignity and respect for the free development of personality is the core values of a free and constitutional democracy. To protect human dignity from the intrusion of others, self-determination of personal data should take a major role in that. Under the self-determination of personal data, the people have a right to determine whether or not, to what extent, in what method, at what time and to whom to disclose their personal data. Follow the thinking, we, the customer and "actual owner" of the data, should have a right to know what data the cab company has collected. Furthermore, we should also be granted a right to control over the use, maintain or deletion of those data; otherwise, the self-determination of personal data is castles in the air, which will never succeed. The right to review and delete, or you can say "the freedom to choose," is a proper and necessary way that we must purchase. | >
> | Will behavior collection hurt?
The answer is clear. In order to market their advertising or data-analysis service to potential buyers, the companies will definitely need to demonstrate the efficiency of their products- they can always locate the most valuable clients who will be interested in the buyers' business. To reach that goal, cab companies or car insurance companies will collect all data it received, including clients' age, gender, location, destination, the time clients drove and their path. Based on the behavior data, those companies can infer clients' domicile, workplace, work time, even clients' preferences, traits and interests. Needless to say, payment systems can directly know clients' shopping preferences from clients' bills, so that they can “ sell clients” to the relevant business providers. The truth is, the more data is collected by those companies, the more the companies know about clients. But our privacy was lost slowly during this practice. | | | | |
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< | Regulating the data collecting and using
Ensuring the transparency or right to request to delete may be a good way; however, the actual problem has its origin in data collecting and using. If our purpose is not to forbid the company to collect or use our data entirely, how can we ensure that our data will not be exploited by the company? Firstly, the data that the company collected should be properly and reasonably related to the purpose of the original business operation, and any random or arbitrary data collecting should be prohibited. In order to provide the most attractive advertising service to advertisers, the cab company will collect and analyze all data it can reach, but not all of them are properly and reasonably related to the purpose of their original business operation, which is providing a driving service. The data the cab company can collect should be limited in the scope of that service. Secondly, the company should not be allowed to keep and use the data forever, namely, a time limitation is necessary. Since the main purpose of the data collecting is to provide a driving service, the cab company should be responsible to delete those data in a reasonable after the service is provided. The cab company can still provide targeted advertising services to advertisers, but it can only count on the data of the single ride. | >
> | In Search of Lost Privacy
Can we find a win-win situation between the benefits and behavior collection? The answer is no. people should have the right to travel around without disclosing their travel details; people should also have the right to buy products without notifying others what they just buy. This right, or anonymity, has a fundamental conflict with those behavior collections. Under this circumstance, what should we do to protect people's privacy? Below is some of my idea: | | | | |
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< | All these ways may let the cab company's advertising service become less attractive, but these are the necessary means to protect our privacy. | >
> | Protect the right of choice
People should have the right to choose whether they want to waive their anonymity of the behaviors. Therefore, the services accompanied by behavior collection must not be the sole option for the consumers. For example, cab companies should be asked to provide services to non-apps clients, car insurance companies should be prohibited from only providing usage-based insurance to car owners and, business providers should be told that only accepting credit cards or digital payment systems are unallowable. I think, mandatory regulations may be advocated to reach that goal. | | | | |
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I'm not sure that the use of a single illustration, whether about a taxicab or any other single business activity, is a sufficient basis in fact for any social, legal, or technical analysis. I don't understand, within that scope of a single illustration, why substituting "human dignity" for privacy helps the analysis. | >
> | compel to provide clear and simple notice
For those who want to choose to waive their right, we should not let them just waive their right without any warning. They should be well informed of the risk and consequences of their choice before they make the decision. In order to let it real functioning, the information should be written in plain language, rather than abstruse legal words. For example, the data collectors should be required to show the sentences like: “whether you agree with our data-collecting behaviors,” “whether you agree to let us use your data on a targeted advertisement,” “whether you agree to let us sell your data to third parties,” and get clients' permission before doing so. Moreover, the information about risk and consequences must not be hidden in dozens of sentences or thousands of words; instead, the information should be notified solely. | | | | |
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< | First, I think the claim that this business is a taxicab business is merely incorrect. The business is behavior collection, using mobile sensors called automobiles driven (at least temporarily) by humans who are workers. That this business presents itself as a taxicab company is essentially camouflage. So talking about limiting its behavior collection to what is required for its business, which is collecting behavior, is an empty tautology. | >
> | Regulating the data collecting and controlling | | | | |
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< | Nor is it sufficient to say that the right at issue is "dignity." The right at issue is privacy, specifically the form of privacy called anonymity. The question for people is whether they should have the right to move around without registering their identity at every streetcorner or at every ride. I can get into a NYC taxicab, pay with cash, and not be photographed. I can buy a MetroCard for cash, destroy it at the end of the ride, and have travelled on mass transit anonymously. But if there are facial-recognition cameras installed in the stations, the train cars, and the vehicles I lose the right of private (that is, anonymous) movement, and power follows me (and everyone else) everywhere. | >
> | For those who still decide to waive their right, their data still need to be avoided from improper collecting and using. Therefore, the company collected should be properly and reasonably related to the purpose of the original business operation, and any random or arbitrary data collecting should be prohibited. The camouflage business should not be allowed to serve as a cover for whole-scale behavior collection. Another important thing is that clients should still be seen as the owner of the data; thus, the right to delete should be allowed to be exercised by clients at any moment and in any situation. | | | | |
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< | The "win-win" is an illusion unless it is based on an unsparing assessment of the rights and powers involved in whatever you are calling a "win." Whether Pareto superiority is actually a meaningful test for public policy depends on whether "wins" are rhetorical, or are factually and ethically grounded in the experience of people in their daily lives, which in turn depends on what it is that people think "the good" consists of. The route to improving the draft, and to having the writing bring you more learning and satisfaction in learning, is to demand more specificity about the rights, and more diversity about the illustrations. People's lives don't consist of cab rides and everything else, so an account that captures aspects of their lives one app or one business at a time is not fully helpful. Thinking about infrastructure like payment systems, transport, health care, which apply across more areas of life, is one way to get more richness and power into the analysis. Being more granular about rights, and in particular being more responsive to the analytical components of privacy—secrecy, anonymity, and autonomy—is the other best route. | | |
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