AFFIRMATIVE:
Big Corporations
Want Your Data.
Don’t Give It to Them.
J.D. TUCCILLE
IF I FORGET where I’ve been shopping online, I can just head over
to Facebook. Ads on the social networking site will quickly
remind me what I’ve been browsing, and perhaps even offer a
coupon code to help close the deal. I appreciate the discounts,
but I’m creeped out by the thought of the profile that can be
stitched together from the sites that I visit.
Libertarians rightly fret about government databases that
assemble sensitive information about finances, movements,
and beliefs. That information can be weaponized against indi-
viduals for official purposes (hello, J. Edgar Hoover!) or for per-
sonal gain and amusement. It’s also a treasure trove for hackers,
as we’ve seen with breaches to the IRS and the federal Office of
Personnel Management. We have no choice but to supply the
state with the data it demands and hope for the best.
If you’re concerned about privacy, however, it’s apparent that
we don’t have a lot more choice when it comes to private sector
data collection. And while the threat there is different than the
one posed by intrusive government programs, it’s still worth
worrying about—and taking steps to protect yourself.
Loan applications, credit card transactions, and surfed web-
sites contribute pieces to the jigsaw puzzle of our lives. The Face-
book/Cambridge Analytica hookup illustrated how sought-after
those puzzle pieces are for the targeted marketing of products—
and politicians. The 2017 hack of credit monitoring company
Equifax compromised the personal data, including tax iden-
tification and Social Security numbers, of nearly 150 million
people. Criminal pilfering of credit agency databases demon-
strates that data collection doesn’t have to be mandated by law
to be perilous.
Credit agencies, banks, social media companies, market-
ers—there’s a long list of independent agencies who don’t need
legal bludgeons to extract our data from us. Keeping our private
information out of their hands might be possible, but only by
living a cash-only, near-Luddite existence.
Some digital privacy hawks have argued that personal data
should be treated like property. There’s something appeal-
ing about the idea that we should have control over the use
of information that might be sensitive, or dangerous, or just
embarrassing. But data doesn’t exist in a discrete, physical form.
It’s knowledge, and knowledge can be effortlessly replicated26 OCTOBER 2018 Illustration: Joanna Andreasson
PROPOSITION:
Corporate Data
Collection Poses
a Threat to
Personal Freedom