Edward Snowden's revelations about Internet spying by the National Security Agency put pressure on the Obama White House. Last week, it issued two reports — not on privacy threats from the NSA, but from corporations that use the same techniques for collecting what's called "meta data" from America's millions of Internet users. It's focusing on the way private companies find patterns in your online habits to create a "digital persona" you don't even know about. The goal is not just to market products you might like. It's also used to predict whether you're a good credit risk, job prospect or candidate for insurance. Privacy advocates welcome proposals for regulation, but Silicon Valley's saying, "Not so fast." We hear from both sides.
Profits, Privacy and Your Personal Data
More
- Center for Democracy and Technology on White House report showing that privacy matters
- Dwoskin on White House taking aim at 'big data' discrimination
- Dwoskin on Yahoo refusing to honor 'do not track' requests from users
- Sasso on big data's marketing strategy possibly violating civil rights
- Szabo on White House's 'mixed bag' report
- White House on a 'Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights'
Credits
Guests:
- Brendan Sasso - National Journal - @BrendanSasso
- Elizabeth Dwoskin - Silicon Valley correspondent for the Washington Post - @lizzadwoskin
- Carl Szabo - NetChoice - @CarlSzabo
- Joseph Lorenzo Hall - Center for Democracy & Technology - @JoeBeOne