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How GDPR protects your social media data (even if you accept all cookies)
Why are apps and websites increasingly asking us if we're willing to share our cookies?
The EU's General Data Protection Regulation may be somewhat annoying to the average consumer, but for social media companies it was a wakeup call about the huge amount of private data they'd accumulated, says Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
And that's a slippery slope for the likes of Facebook or Google.
"One of the things that you get as part of GDPR is the right to request any data that a company has on you," Haugen tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
For companies, she says, they were suddenly being asked to disclose just how much stuff they had on you.
Watch the GZERO World episode: Why social media is broken & how to fix it
- Data privacy before and after a pandemic - GZERO Media ›
- Why EU social media regulation matters to you - GZERO Media ›
- The Graphic Truth: Who dominates social media? - GZERO Media ›
- Why social media is broken & how to fix it - GZERO Media ›
- Whistleblowers & how to activate a new era of digital accountability - GZERO Media ›
China data privacy law limits big tech, but has few rights protections
Marietje Schaake, International Policy Director at Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, Eurasia Group senior advisor and former MEP, discusses trends in big tech, privacy protection and cyberspace:
How does China's recently passed privacy law compare to other countries?
While China's new law is said to be similarly comprehensive as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation and would indeed limit the decision-making power of its big tech companies. However, no law exists just on paper. There's always a context. And in the case of China, there are very few rights protections for people. While in the EU, fundamental rights protections were the main aim of the GDPR. For all geopolitical blocs with new data governance laws, China, India or the EU, we see a balancing act between national security arguments, rights protections, and economic development ambitions. But conspicuously absent from the list is the United States, which still does not have a federal data protection law.
With PayPal launching a cryptocurrency service in the UK, are digital currencies going mainstream now?
Whether or not cryptocurrencies go mainstream does not only depend on what you can buy with them today, but also on what regulators will be doing in the future. Only this week, the UK's FCA said it's not capable of supervising Binance. And I suspect that that dynamic, where a supervisory authority cannot perform its core tasks because of cryptocurrencies won't be accepted much longer.
Ian Bremmer: How COVID-19 Response Could Impact Civil Liberties
Ian Bremmer examines big tech's role in helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides historical examples of expansion of government power in times of crisis, including the 1918 flu pandemic, the Sedition Act, and the 9/11 attacks. At a critical moment when both tech companies and the government are extending their reach and power, a tradeoff could emerge on the balance of safety and civil liberty.
Evaluating Data Privacy & Regulation in the US
How much regulation and oversight should the US government have when it comes to big tech? In an interview with Ian Bremmer for GZERO World, Marietje Schaake, former member of EU Parliament and international policy director of the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University, argues that government relies on private tech firms for much of its own tech and data infrastructure, and that could be against the interest of citizens and consumers. Using examples of election security and misinformation promulgated in the COVID-19 pandemic, Schaake discusses the competing nature of profit-driven advertising platforms and the public good.
Data privacy before and after a pandemic
Some economists have argued that data is the new oil, a precious commodity driving exponential growth of some of the biggest multinational corporations. This week, our guest says it could also be the new CO2, quietly changing the world in irreparable ways if not properly controlled.
On the latest episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, a look at the ongoing debate about data and how it's used by governments and big tech companies in ways both helpful and harmful. The policy conversation was complicated before COVID-19, as Europe established its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the US begins to grapple with similar laws, like California's Consumer Privacy Act.
Our guest, Marietje Schaake, former EU Parliament Member and international policy director of Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, argues that more regulation is necessary to curb unchecked use of consumer data. Taped just days before many US cities entered lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic, the interview also examines early uses of tracking and surveillance in Singapore and China, and what those actions foreshadow for the US as the nation balances freedom and security.
Later in the program, contact tracing and COVID-19: A conversation with epidemiologist John Brownstein about his site CovidNearYou.org.
And on Puppet Regime: Dating is hard during a pandemic. Even for pathogens on the prowl.
Combat online bullying with troll scores?
Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, discusses combating cyberbullying, CCPA and tech "fashion":
What is a "troll score" and is it a realistic way to combat online bullying?
Something that Kayvon Beykpour, head of product at Twitter and I talked about, and the thought was: Twitter doesn't give you a lot of disincentives to be a jerk online. But what if there were a way to measure how much of a jerk someone is and put it right in their profile? Wouldn't that help? I think it's a pretty good idea. Though, you can see the arguments against it.
What is the California Consumer Privacy Act and will it affect consumers outside of California?
The new law went into effect at the beginning of the year. Much like GDPR in Europe, it gives consumers a lot of rights over their data. You can write to a company and say: "delete my data" or "tell me what you have." But what's interesting is it applies to people in California, but because the companies will have to deal with them, they will make it easier for people in other states, too.
Buy or sell: The fleece vest, the trendy corporate tech uniform?
Once something becomes called a "trendy corporate tech uniform," it's time to sell.