Jay Cline writes:
Last week, Google followed through on its plan to consolidate its 60 privacy policies into a single approach. Some privacy advocates and regulators are worried that Google will now be able to know and track people like never before. But on the scale of all the bad things that could happen to our privacy, where does Google’s change in approach rank? Have we crossed a Rubicon toward the obliteration of personal privacy, or is a new day dawning for more control over our personal data?
There really isn’t any universally accepted way to answer this question.
Read more on ITWorld.
I don’t necessarily agree with how Jay rates some issues, but I find the notion of having a “Richter Scale” somewhat useful so that privacy advocates can begin to think about prioritizing issues. Do we really need to fight each fight as if it’s life or death? And if we say that we shouldn’t fight each battle because it doesn’t rank high on a scale, will we turn around at some later date and regret that our privacy was eroded and that it’s harder to get it back?
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