We kicked off this campaign two years ago, after Cambridge Analytica amassed private information from roughly 50 million Facebook users without the vast majority of these users’ knowledge or consent. The political consulting firm did so by exploiting Facebook’s policies, which enabled Facebook apps to collect not only their users’ data, but also their users’ friends’ data.
Since then, we’ve seen case after case after case of consumer privacy violations and unauthorized access to personal data. In the current era, as policies are introduced to move past the pandemic that include measures like geolocation and health screening, consumer privacy is more important than ever.
It’s time for the public to take a stand against platforms abusing consumer data. In the digital era, it is impossible to fully participate in society without sharing our personal information with third parties. Congress needs to step in to protect consumers.
Send a letter to your members of Congress with the tool above. Tell them that companies should:
- only collect and store data that is necessary for delivering the service or product offered;
- adhere to robust security standards when retaining private information; and
- stop using forced arbitration clauses that take away the right of consumers to sue when these companies betray their trust.
It’s time for Congress to return control of personal data to the people providing it — the rightful owners.
Image credit: Visual Content on Flickr