After reading the article from Wixom and Ross (2017) on how to monetize your data, my first thought was that not only your data is being sold, but also your privacy. An article by the NY Times, reconfirmed this by stating that privacy is a luxury since protecting your privacy can easily cost a couple of hundreds dollars on for instance, encryption data services (Angwin, 2014). To protect your privacy, it is advised to always use 2-step authentication, a VPN when on public wifi, and downloading antivirus software. However, these steps are more useful to minimize the risks of hackers, data breaches and malicious malware (also important), but they do not help when you want companies such as Facebook to know less about you and the interactions you have on their platform (Klosowski, n.d.).
Luckily, in Europe there is a privacy regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR ensures that personal data such as your name, location, IP-address, and bank details are protected. Meaning; companies need to get permission to collect your data, you are allowed to see what data they have collected, ask your data to be deleted, and so forth. Ensuring that the European Commision can keep their promise; “everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her and access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified” (Europese Commissie, n.d.). This is where cookies come into play, cookies are there to get permission from a user to retrieve data. Ensuring that companies are complying with the GDPR.
Consequently, every website asks you for permission to install cookies and similar techniques, ‘to optimize your experience’. However, with every website asking for consent, individuals’ privacy fatigue increases. Privacy fatigue refers to the increasing difficulty of managing online personal data causing individuals to become tired of having to think about their online privacy (Choi et al., 2017). According to Choi et al., (2017) the increase in privacy fatigue causes individuals to disclose more information. This could suggest that the GDPR works counterproductive.
Nevertheless, a better solution seems to be missing. Therefore, I have found that the best (free) option to protect my privacy is to decline every cookie, and to make sure that for example, Formula1, cannot share my data with its 855 partners.
Sources:
- Angwin, J. (2014, March 4). Opinion | Has Privacy Become a Luxury Good? The New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/opinion/has-privacy-become-a-luxury-good.html
- Choi, H., Park, J. and Jung, Y., 2018. The role of privacy fatigue in online privacy behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 81, pp.42-51.
- Klosowski, T. (n.d.). How to Protect Your Digital Privacy. The Privacy Project Guides – the New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/guides/privacy-project/how-to-protect-your-digital-privacy
- Europese Commissie. (n.d.). Europese Commissie – European Commission. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://ec.europa.eu/info/aid-development-cooperation-fundamental-rights/your-rights-eu/know-y+our-rights/freedoms/protection-personal-data_nl
- Wixom, B.H. and Ross, J.W., 2017. How to monetize your data. MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(3).
Hi Karlijn,
Thank you for the post! It was very relatable. As a Korean, I rarely saw pop-up windows asking if I accept or decline cookies in Korea. However, after I came to Europe, I see those pop-ups whenever I try to access any websites. At first, I was really annoyed by them, but I think now I am getting used to them. And I agree with the statement that the more websites ask for consent, the more privacy fatigue people feel. Although I always decline optional cookies, I’ve seen a lot of people around me just clicking the ‘Accept all’ button because they are tired of managing their personal data and just want to close the pop-up.
I also think there is no perfect solution to keep personal data privacy and reduce individual privacy fatigue while letting companies analyze personal data for a good reason. However, I believe Web 3 can solve this problem since, in Web 3, AI and machine learning algorithms can still analyze personal data to offer personal recommendations without the ownership of the data moving to central authorities or third parties (due to decentralization). The (hopefully) only question about Web 3 is when it will be used widely.
Hi Karlijn, many thanks for your insightful article. Great to read an article that combines theory with the writer’s opinion. Interesting as well to read that I’m not the only one to experience the “privacy fatigue” that you refer to in the last paragraphs. Even though I think that we’ve made a lot of progress in terms of privacy protection, I agree that there must exist a better solution than the current cookies that we’re offered to either accept or decline. Do you think that a better solution is coming, or do you think that the European Commission is satisfied with the implemented solution so far?