What does your privacy mean to you?
When you’re grinding through work emails, liking memes on Instagram or making plans in a group text, you have an expectation of privacy.
You might think your messages are private, but then there are those “likes” and the data that comes with them and, oh yeah, you’re gonna get start seeing ads that feel spookily prescient. But even that’s just a small part of the privacy picture. Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and other tech companies see “privacy” very differently — from each other and from you.
That distinction is important, and not just because online privacy drives one big tech news story after another. Some of those same tech companies are making big pledges on recommitting to your privacy — and throwing around terms like “private messaging” that cloud the picture. It’s a way to compete and get ahead of growing consumer and regulatory scrutiny.
So, you’re not going to stop living online — how else would you listen to your favorite podcast? — but let’s get smarter together about how privacy works and how we can take better control of ours. Our guest to help with that is Laura Moy, associate professor and executive director of Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology.
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