Here’s what I think.
It is time for companies (and us) to begin treating our identities (privacy) like our money.
Explained further… we should demand that those (social media and all others) that touch our identities treat us with the same respect that we would expect as if it were our money. Why? Because our identities are money.
The very lucrative social media model is built on selling identities to advertisers. Maybe less obvious, is the value of our identities to anyone and everyone who is marketing and selling anything. Your name, your email address, your cell number, your demographic data, your location and travel routines, your health history, your buying habits, now your facial features and on and on, are like gold. If you are in doubt, check out the thriving industry of those that accumulate and sell lists of individual information to anyone willing to pay for it. And, the identity information is so valuable, it has created an incentive for unscrupulous individuals and organizations to gather and use the information unethically.
You only have to look at the first news articles to pop up in your browser to know who I am talking about.
Now that we have established that our identities are money, it is time for a more serious conversation on the responsibilities of those that touch our identities.
What do we do about it?
Those that touch our money have (or should have) a fiduciary responsibility to look out for our best interests in how the money is cared for.
Those that touch our identities (collect, process, use, share, store, or sell) should also have a “stewardship”responsibility to care for the privacy of our identity.
The concept of stewardship began in the late 19th century and applies nicely. Stewardship implies the acceptance of an ethical responsibility for others. Stewardship is defined as “the job of taking care of something, e.g., organization, property and anything else of value.”
Absent the legal requirement to do so, individuals and organizations must accept the stewardship responsibility for protecting the identities and privacy of others.
It is a known fact that technology has outpaced privacy protection. It is time to innovate on the side of privacy protection. Design systems mindful of individual and social consequences. Innovate to protect, not detract.
Today it seems that business interests have so far trumped the interests of privacy. I truly believe it is time for more stewardship and less self-interest. It is time to set defaults the side on the protection of individuals and the privacy of information.
Bottom line: It is time for more voluntary stewardship or governments will continue passing legislation to get the protection of identities and privacy back.
