PRIVACY FIRST

 Everything is stored and used by social media companies

Companies go to great lengths to protect their intellectual property - from their patents and copyrights, to their firm's name and logo. In fact, as I've stated before: "everything can be copied, all products and services. The only thing that can't be copied is your Brand."

Yet, it is very difficult for consumers to grasp and appreciate how social media companies are collecting, analyzing, sharing, and selling a tremendous amount of information ABOUT THEM.

It has reached a point where uniform privacy protections that would provide meaningful consent for the use of online information no matter where they go on the internet is now required and should be demanded by consumers.

Fund-House believes that a national online privacy framework should start with the consumer and be grounded in the concept of empowering and informing consumers to control the personal information that is collected about them online.

Control

Consumers should be empowered to have meaningful choice for each use of their data through opt-in consent. The consent options should be purposeful, clear, and meaningful with no 'pre-ticked boxes, 'take-it-or-leave-it offers', or other default consents.  Additionally, the consent should be renewable at some reasonable frequency.

Transparency

Explanation about how companies collect, use, and maintain consumers' data should be clear, concise, easy-to-understand, and readily available.  Consumers should have the ability to weigh the benefits and harms of collection and use of their data.

Parity

Consent must be applied uniformly across the entire Internet and not based on who is collecting it, or whether a service is free or paid - and whether they are using an ISP, a search engine, e-commerce site, streaming service, social network, or mobile carrier or device.

Uniformity

Consumers should be protected under a single, national standard that protects regardless of where you live, work, or travel - the protection should not be under the control of individual State laws.

There are many accounts of data misuse and privacy laws are long overdue. Consumers deserve and have a right to control how their personal information is collected and used whenever they use the internet and whenever they go online.


Jim Lavorato
Principal, Fund-House Ventures, LLC