Making data privacy a reality

Making data privacy a reality

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The United States government made a deal last week with an app that allows women to track their periods through claims that they shared their users’ health information with Google and Facebook. A photo storage app also made claims that it used images of people to build a facial recognition system.

These app makers had problems not because what they were doing looked scary – but because they weren’t blunt about it.

In the United States, as long as companies do not deceive their customers, there are not many legal limits on what they can do with our private information.

That’s not great, is it? But California has a relatively new data privacy law that – while strange and flawed – is beginning to show intriguing ways to empower Americans to limit how our data can be used.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission said the female app, Flo Health, broke its promise to users to keep their information private by sharing confidential data, including women’s pregnancy status, with other companies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Flo is now required to obtain people’s consent before sharing her health information. (Flo did not admit that he did anything wrong. The company said it does not share users’ health data without permission.)

People should be able to choose which companies to trust our personal information with, as long as they are honest about what they are doing. However, it is usually a confusing all-or-nothing choice: say yes to a loosely written privacy document or do not use the website or application in any way.

And it seems bizarre to me that if Flo just launches a new privacy policy, she will be able to share intimate information from women. But this is mainly how it works in the United States. Companies can do almost anything they want in relation to their users’ data, if they first outline their actions in a privacy policy.

The California Consumer Privacy Act, which went into effect a year ago, is beginning to chart a promising alternative path.

Under the law, state residents – and, in some cases, all Americans – may require large companies to show people what data they have about you and who they shared it with. People can also instruct companies to delete and not “sell” the data they have about you. (There is no agreement on the legal definition of “sale”.)

The law is not perfect and it is complicated. People should go to each organization that may have their data to exclude or restrict what it can do with them.

But California law also provided for the possibility of “authorized agents” who would exercise data rights on our behalf. Instead of filling out 100 forms to ask 100 companies to delete your data, you would choose a privacy assistant to do this for you. Consumer Reports last month started offering to be a privacy assistant as a test project.

The most intriguing idea is that the privacy assistant can be just a web browser where you check a box once and each website you visit receives an automated warning to prohibit the personal information collected from being shared or sold. Think of it as a version of the telemarketer’s “Don’t Call” list.

So far, some websites have started adding this privacy agent feature. (The New York Times is among the organizations involved, helping to develop browser specifications and agreeing to implement people’s choices.) If California determines that this type of privacy agent is legally binding, I hope this project will expand.

These privacy ideas are just beginning. But I am intrigued by the possibility of giving Americans real power over our digital lives.

Tip of the week

Many Americans working from home during the pandemic bought printers – and with that often came cursing and shouting. Brian X. Chen, the personal technology columnist for the New York Times, is here to help:

Printers are probably the worst technology product ever made. My first job after college involved reviewing printers for a small tech magazine. So I know more than I ever wanted to know about machines. Here are some common problems and solutions:

My wireless printing stopped working: Last week, you printed this Amazon return label on your Wi-Fi network. Today you can’t. Because?

Occasionally, printers enter hibernate mode and disconnect from the Internet network. Sometimes, restarting the printer makes it work again.

Another possibility is that the printer has changed its IP address – the identification number assigned to each device connected to the Internet – and now your computer cannot find it. You can correct this by accessing your Internet router’s advanced settings and setting a static IP address for the printer. (Do a Google search for the brand and model of your router and instructions on how to set up a static IP.)

I get an error when I try to print: This is common and maddening. The problem is often outdated software. Do a web search on your printer model to find so-called new drivers or firmware updates and follow the instructions to update the software.

I run out of ink very quickly: This can happen if you purchased an ink cartridge from another brand. If this becomes a recurring problem, try changing to a different brand – preferably the ink cartridge made by the printer manufacturer.

Another possibility is that the printer software is failing and the printer erroneously claims it is out of ink. Again, a firmware or driver update can help.

Finally, remember the golden rule for printers: if in doubt, restart the printer and the device you are trying to print from. This sometimes makes the problems go away.

  • More about a possible smoking gun in Google’s antitrust lawsuit: One of the intriguing claims in a government antitrust case against Google is that the company and Facebook have teamed up to help their businesses at the expense of everyone else. New reports from my colleagues Dai Wakabayashi and Tiffany Hsu found that Google gave Facebook preferential treatment in computerized advertising auctions and that the two companies feared they could be investigated for reducing competition as a result.

  • Saying you are doing something is not the same as doing it: Facebook said it stopped automatically recommending people to join the types of party political or social groups that sometimes lead people to radical ideas. An analysis of the news feeds of some Facebook users by tagging found that the site did not interrupt these automatic recommendations.

  • It is an opportune time to immerse yourself in nostalgia: On eBay, you can indulge in childhood love through Sassy magazine.

Two groups of penguins – one going into the water and the other coming back – stop for a chat. (OK, I don’t know if they are talking. Let my imagination run free.)

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