Privacy

Why is a customer's privacy so hard for current programmers/companies to safeguard?

Recently there have been many articles, lawsuits, and news programs/segments dedicated to showing just how much of your personal data is constantly leaked to third parties (just one example, here). I find it mind-boggling that these same companies, Facebook and Apple in particular, year in and year out are the subject of these lawsuits and reports, yet don't fix the system so it doesn't happen. It literally is cheaper for them to settle the lawsuits or go to court each time than it is to simply fix it so it can't happen.

Some will argue, "But you are using a social networking site, you take that risk!" No, actually, I don't. Just because a site is based around the idea of connecting with others doesn't mean I automatically give up my right to choose to whom I give my personal data. I use Facebook to connect with people I actually know. I limit my app usage. I am NOT, in any way shape or form, asking for X company to contact me about Y "deal." Yet, I may still be giving third party advertisers more info about myself than I want to simply because Facebook uses a constantly evolving and moving goalpost for its policies on privacy and is constantly adding new features without a) looking at the ramifications for user privacy, b) checking for new holes in privacy leaks, or c) alerting its user base to these changes and/or setting the changes to default to the most private setting (rather than always defaulting to the least private settings). Yes, I could stop using the application; but then I have lost a primary means to contact the actual people that I actually wanted to (re)connect with in the first place, simply because the application developers can't seem to understand the fundamental laws of the nation(s) in which they do business.

And apps on cell phones are assumed by the majority of owners to be "safe", as they aren't 'social networks.' Yet, if you own an iPhone, Blackberry, or other smartphone with a camera, you are likely geo-tagging ever single picture you take with the current location (in latitude and longitude). This setting is set by default by the camera manufacturers. You remember that cute picture of your kids playing in the park near your house? Geo-tagged. That picture your daughter took of herself in her bedroom? Geo-tagged. Now, all it takes is someone to stumble on those pictures, download geo-tag reading software (which you can get/find fairly easily online), and viola! the person knows what your kids/daughter looks like and where they play/sleep. How's that for creepy? Your cell phone also defaults to geo-tagging your location at all times, regardless of camera capability. Anyone who has the means of accessing the GPS system can know within a about a dozen feet where you are at any time if your phone is turned on, by default. And turning this feature off can be a pain in the ass on most phones.

For those who say simply don't use the apps or devices, I respond: well, what are my alternatives? I could call them by landline phone, I guess, but then if I wasn't using the social networks I wouldn't have reconnected in the first place and wouldn't know their phone numbers. And, even if I do use a landline, the government under the Bush administration made it legal for the gov't to listen in on any phone call at any time without the need for a warrant or to go through the legal process to get the tap, so I'm trading telling advertisers information for telling my government information. That's better. Even if I only ever say or do anything both legal and morally correct, what business of either group is it? I have the right to privacy.

Use standard email you say? Well, the gov't is also checking those under the same laws passed by Bush. Use standard snail mail, you argue? Okay, that is probably the least likely to be intercepted or opened and read by the gov't or advertisers, I agree, but we go back to the whole "how would I know my friend's address if I hadn't reconnected via the social network site in the first place" issue. Plus, land-line calls and snail mail cost money. And snail mail costs resources (paper, envelope, writing implements)... social networks, landline phone calls, visiting in person all have additional costs to them.

And these don't address the geo-tagging of my personal photos or location by my phone. Or the fact that lawyers for car insurance companies can get access to your car's records, including speed, mileage, location, engine data, etc. from OnStar to keep from paying on your insurance claim when they prove you were going 1mph over the speed limit when the accident occurred. Or what about someone you don't even know filming you do something embarrassing at a party or social event, posting it without your approval or consent, tagging you on it, and then it comes up on a standard web search when your prospective employer does a background check on your name before hiring you?

What's next, HR Block or Intuit's tax software keeping track and sending meta data showing how you "played with the numbers" (completely within legal limits, and even supportable with documentation) before finalizing and sending in your electronic tax forms so that the IRS can "better determine" if you should be audited? Doesn't matter that you did nothing illegal, but do you want that hassle?

I just want to reconnect with family and friends, and take pictures with my cell phone. I don't want to give advertisers/companies an extra window into my habits or personal information or the gov't a deeper look than is necessary into my life. Is that too much to ask?