Techdirt Podcast Episode 41: Privacy Policies Have Nothing To Do With Privacy
from the let's-get-rid-of-them dept
Privacy policies are ubiquitous online, and often required by law, but what are they really for? People don't read them, and when they do, they have a tendency to misunderstand them -- such as with the recent flare-up over poorly-contextualized changes to Spotify's policy. Plus, there's a built-in incentive for companies to write their policies as broadly as possible to avoid accidentally violating them, further stripping them of all purpose. This week, we discuss a simple question: are privacy policies an altogether stupid idea?
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Filed Under: podcast, privacy, privacy policy
Companies: spotify
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Between the obvious stupidity inherent in so much of it, the "creepy factor," and the poor psychological signaling that it conveys, it's no wonder that essentially everyone hates targeted ads. And the name hardly helps either; who wants to be a target?
WRT the concept of private information getting accidentally released due to a bug, have a look at this account of exactly that happening to a programmer just last month. A bug caused this guy who was trying to upload some code to a private GitHub repository to a public repo instead, and it contained a security key. A big mess ensued very quickly.
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What's needed is a set of tools for available for every user of all technical skill levels and help implementing those tools into everyday life.
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I write privacy policies for a living
The documents exist, 100%, to protect the company publishing them. I cannot even conceive of a mindset that thinks these documents serve any other purpose.
They are, in many instances (for instance, California Civil Code Section 1798.83) required by law, and, in many other instances, required by the realities of civil litigation in this country.
The document serves one purpose, and one purpose alone:
To explain to users the uses of their data, put them on notice, and describe under what circumstances users may or may not sue the service for use or misuse of data.
No more, no less.
Granted, I haven't listened to the podcast - but "are privacy policies altogether a stupid idea" is a useless question. It is a disclaimer, required by law.
While we are in the process of throwing out privacy policies, lets get rid of user manuals and warning labels too, shall we? It's just as reasonable a proposition.
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Re: I write privacy policies for a living
That seems rather obvious, given that we discuss every point you raise in the podcast...
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Re: Re: I write privacy policies for a living
It's on the list to listen to on the train...
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