Page 60 - Bloomberg Businessweek - November 19, 2018

Bloomberg Businessweek The Year Ahead 2019 Technology

Silicon Valley

▷ The U�S� is at the forefront of turning consumer data into revenue� When it
comes to privacy laws and punishment for breaches, it’s bringing up the rear

Opponents of government regulation have a few to the private messages of several million users.
standard refrains. For years, one of the most And Google parent Alphabet Inc., it was discov-
common has been that public officials shouldn’t ered, had attempted to cover up a data leak on
pick winners and losers, meaning they shouldn’t its Google+ social network that affected about a
use state power to reward favored companies or half-million accounts. For people affected by such
industries and punish others. In good faith, the incidents, there’s little to no recourse and few
line articulates a reasonable concern about facili- answers about what’s to stop similar breaches of
tating corruption and choking off competition. It personal data in the future.
tends, however, to be deployed by complainants These are the kinds of issues at the center
who were perfectly comfortable being among of a heated policy debate that could become ● Beckerman says tech
companies shouldn’t be
the winners until they suddenly drew greater more volatile in the year ahead. The California singled out for profiting
scrutiny. Frequent foes of winner- and loser- Consumer Privacy Act, a powerful state-level law from user data
picking include oil and gas companies, health set to be codified in 2019 before it takes effect in
insurers, megabanks, and now Silicon Valley’s January 2020, offers a blueprint for heightened
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biggest internet companies, which are starting to data protections that analysts expect other states
face consequences for frequent breaches of their to follow. Its strength lies in giving users control
eyebrow-raisingly massive data hoards. over their personal information, including the
After two years under a much harsher spot- right to delete it, while barring services from dis-
light than they were used to, the internet compa- criminating against those who share less data.
nies acknowledge that some sort of new oversight In Europe, the sweeping General Data
is due. But, they say, let’s not get carried away Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in
here and change the ways the Valley does busi- May, and countries from Brazil to India to Japan
ness. The government must avoid “picking win- are considering similarly stringent policies. But in
ners or losers,” says Michael Beckerman, chief the U.S., no national legislative proposal is close
executive officer of the Internet Association, to passage. “What’s holding this back is a lack of
a Washington lobbying group representing expertise,” says Representative Ro Khanna,
Facebook, Google, Twitter, and most other major a California Democrat who recently
tech platforms. It’s wrong, he says, for lawmakers released a set of guidelines for
to punish his clients for mining data for profit, an internet consumer bill of
because pretty much every consumer-facing com- rights. “Members of Congress
pany now makes money from data in one way or are overly deferential to
another. “If you compare Facebook or Twitter to a technologists because they
car rental agency or your grocery store, or a data don’t know the platforms.”
broker or a credit-reporting agency, our compa- Whether the bill
nies are a lot more transparent,” he says. comes from the
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, of course, Hertz House or Senate, one
and Kroger don’t know everything about you, nor of the most con-
have they proven so hackable. Since September tentious issues
alone, hackers broke into 30 million profiles on revolves around
Facebook, its largest breach ever, harvesting cookies. Big Tech
email addresses, phone numbers, and search his- has vociferously
tories. Twitter Inc. disclosed that a platform bug opposed the sort
may have allowed third-party developers access of “opt-in consent”