I hate to be that guy, but I think Meta, Facebook’s parent company may be right. About what you might ask? Right now, the tech company is facing a massive $1.3 billion fine from the European Union over data privacy.
What did Facebook do? It may have shuttled European Facebook user data between Europe and the US. If so, that’s in violation of EU policies on user data privacy.
Naturally, Facebook is appealing and, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Meta/Facebook may be right.
From the little information I can glean about this, the Irish Data Protection Authority discovered the data transfers that went back almost three years. The EU has stringent data privacy rules, some would say far better than what exists in the US.
There is no indication that Meta abused this data or sold it to third parties, but the EU’s rules don’t really allow for much nuance and, maybe, they run at odds with modern global data management.
Most large, consumer-facing tech companies have our data (encrypted and unencrypted) in data centers scattered around the world. Redundancy alone means that the data that exists in NY might also exist in California or even Cork, Ireland. Similarly, German data might reside in both Berlin and Idaho.
If Meta loses this appeal and is forced to pay this fine, it’s a signal to all companies that, on the bright side, they have to be super careful with our data and, on the downside, good luck operating as a global concern.
Meta and other companies might soon be forced to operate as separate entities in the US, UK, Australia, and other global destinations. Will it be harder for us to share data and content with global friends and partners? Perhaps, especially if a company is concerned that allowing our data – even if we choose to do it – to cross international borders might be breaking another EU (or US) rule and run up another massive fine.
I know that Facebook and Meta have done a terrible job up to now of protecting all our personal data. On the other hand, we all did freely share it and many of us paid little attention to privacy controls. What I mean is that we are not blameless here. It’s only in the last five years that we’ve woken up to the need for strong data privacy controls and regulations at a national and international level.
Ultimately, Meta can probably afford this fine, but it knows this will set a bad precedent. Normally, I’d tell them to suck it up, pay, and do better, but this time, Meta/Facebook may be right.
Where we get our news
Lately, I’ve been wondering about how people start their day, or rather their news consumption day.
I usually read Google News, though I hate the redesign, which seems to offer up less news than before. I wonder, though, if I’m an outlier. Are most people reading newsletters from sites like The New York Times, CNN, and The Skimm?
Maybe you start your day on Reddit or even The Drudge Report.
Alternatively, I’m realizing that the first thing most of us see in the morning is those smartphone news alerts. If you follow those links, that’s probably your portal to more news and likely from the same site that delivered the original alert.
The other option, of course, is the start pages from Windows (MSN) and Google Discover. Those pages might be your main source for news, though, I can’t say they’re the best aggregators. MSN, in particular, is filled with way too much sensationalistic garbage.
There still has to be some watching TV news, though, it’s so broad and, of course, you can’t choose your news journey.
Finally, I wonder how many people still get a daily newspaper. We get one a week in my house and I barely glance at it. I grew up reading The New York Times on the train (yes, I learned how to properly fold it) but now I read it all online
I wouldn’t say I miss the old days. We get a far wider variety of news, but the quality is far from consistent.
Years ago when I talked to people about current events, I quickly gleaned their news sources. It’s much harder now. People getting news in their own way should be a positive development, but I worry that many will only read news and from sources, that agree with their predefined worldview. I’m not sure that’s the way to learn or for the world to get smarter.
Thanks for reading
Be good to each other
BTW: LanceList is going on hiatus but will return, soon.