Privacy is Power by Carissa Véliz

Author:Carissa Véliz [Véliz, Carissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473583535
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2020-09-24T03:00:00+00:00

IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY STANDARDS

Our privacy will not be adequately protected so long as the apps, websites, and gadgets we interact with are insecure. Data is too easy to steal. As things stand, companies have no motivation to invest in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is expensive, and it is not something users appreciate, because it is invisible. Netizens don’t have an easy way of comparing security standards between products.40 We know roughly what a safe door looks like, but there are no comparable tell-tale signs on apps or websites.

Not only do businesses not have much to gain from investing in cybersecurity, they don’t have enough to lose when things go wrong. If data gets stolen, customers are the ones who bear most of the brunt. If a company is deemed to have been grossly negligent, it might be fined, but if the fine is not big enough (e.g. if it is lower than what it would have cost to invest in cybersecurity), companies will be tempted to consider such fines as a tolerable cost of doing business.

Cybersecurity is a collective action problem. Society would be better off if everyone had acceptable cybersecurity standards. Institutions’ secrets would be better protected, and they could enjoy their customers’ trust. Citizens’ data would be safe. And national security would be likewise protected. But it is not in the interest of most companies to invest in security because it gives them few advantages, and it’s expensive, which can put them at a disadvantage with respect to their competitors. In the current situation, insecure products can drive secure products out of the market, as there is no return on investing in cybersecurity.

Government regulation is how security is improved. If it weren’t for governments implementing standards, things like buildings, drugs, food products, cars, and airplanes would be much less safe. Companies very often complain when they are first required to improve their security standards. Car companies famously resisted obligatory seatbelts. They thought they were ugly, and that users would hate them. In fact, users were quite happy to be safer. Over time, companies come to embrace regulation that protects them and their customers from security disasters. And they come to appreciate that regulation is sometimes the only way a company can invest in something valuable that does not have an immediate return without incurring a competitive disadvantage, because everyone else has to do it too.

Even though much of the privacy we have lost since 2001 has been the direct or indirect consequence of governments supposedly prioritizing security, experience has taught us that security and privacy are not a zero-sum game. When we erode our privacy, more often than not we undermine our security. The internet was made unsafe to allow corporations and governments to snatch our data so they could, in theory, keep us safe. The reality is that an unsafe internet is extremely dangerous for individuals, companies, and societies.

If our gadgets are insecure, hostile regimes can spy on our government officials. Rogue operators could take down the power grid of

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