I agree with Robert Robb’s observation in the Arizona Republic:
If big tech is to be reformed, it should be through legislation and regulation. Not through antitrust lawsuits, such as those filed recently against Facebook and Google, both of which Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has joined.
With respect to social media, I am a privacy radical. I believe each of us should have the equivalent of a property right to our internet data. No one should be able to put anything on our computing devices without our explicit consent.
No one should be able to collect data on our internet activities, including our browsing history, without our explicit consent. No one should be able to use data collected from our internet activities for any purpose without our explicit consent. That includes using it to target ads at us or sell the data to others.
And no one should be able to require a waiver of these rights as a condition for using a social media platform or visiting a website.
That fix wouldn’t be limited to Facebook. It would include Google, Instagram, and any other company that used the same business model. It’s the business model that’s the problem not just the individual companies. And it could be done tomorrow, Congress willing.
And the consent should revocable at any time for any reason. However, the direction things are going makes that unlikely too much money (including campaign donations) at stake.
Consent should be required to be obtained on a per person per use basis. No blanket consent.