When Will Privacy Matter?

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When Will Privacy Matter?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

SSC Guru

Points: 734418
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March 31, 2020 at 12:00 am

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item When Will Privacy Matter?

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003853 More actions · Answer 1

Privacy has always mattered. We just gave the up the first time we opened a bank account or bought a house or bought a car or applied for/used a credit card or even applied for a job. And that was true even before the internet.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Brent Ozar SSCrazy Points: 2450 More actions · Answer 2

The bigger question is, "When will privacy matter more than money?"

And it never will. That ship has sailed.

Younger generations have made the conscious decisions to:

Willingly share everything online
Prefer free services over paid services

The combination of those two things means they want to share everything online, but they don't want to pay for it. They know there are more expensive services with privacy built in, but they simply don't choose to use 'em. They've grown up accustomed to sharing their data freely with services like Facebook and Google, not pay anything for it, and deal with the consequences.

For the most part, it's mostly members of older generations (like us) that see the privacy thing as a problem. We grew up being accustomed to paying for services, and as part of that payment trade, expecting the business on the other end to be responsible about handling our data: keeping it locked safe in a filing cabinet somewhere. When a business uses our data for something we didn't expressly intend or weren't aware of, we see ourselves as being violated because we think, "It's our data and we're paying you to be good stewards."

Our generation stood a shot at pitching the value of privacy over money. We failed. The new generation will never get a chance to hear that sales pitch.

And remember, when you talk about the public, you're not talking about data professionals. You're talking about people who take pictures of their hairy parts and share 'em. "Privacy" is different now.

(Not subscribing to replies on this one because I know it's gonna get ugly, hahaha. Data professionals have a hard time wrapping their heads around this one.)

David.Poole SSC Guru Points: 75896 More actions · Answer 3

The more privacy is abused the more draconian the resulting regulation surrounding data use.

To give an analogy using a DBA code review process. Some people are given a light weight review because they have earned trust and have a track record of their code causing no problems in production. Other people get a forensic (and immensely time consuming) review because they have earned distrust through persistent sloppiness. Reviews of their work become every more detailed and every mistake they make increases the detailed required to have sufficient confidence to allow their "work" to be deployed to production. They have the aptitude but not the required attitude.

If I feel my data is treated with respect (and thus I am treated with respect) then I am more comfortable sharing that data with the trusted organisation.

The thing is life is a fractal. A company that doesn't treat data with respect probably doesn't treat data people with respect. It probably doesn't treat its other employees with respect or encourage respectful behaviour. It probably doesn't treat its customers with respect.

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003853 More actions · Answer 4

It's a shame that Brent didn't subscribe to this thread because I think he's pretty much spot on.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125519 More actions · Answer 5

Organizations that hoard data indiscriminately and fail to properly secure data should be seen as robber barons who cheat the system and put the public at risk. We should judge corporations not just by their environmental impact, but by how they handle data. For decades, processed food was a free for all, but when researchers started linking food additives to obesity and cancer - that's when the public started taking it seriously. It's much the same way with PII and digital privacy.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 734418 More actions · Answer 6

Brent Ozar wrote:

The bigger question is, "When will privacy matter more than money?"
And it never will. That ship has sailed.
...

Perhaps. I think that trade was made, but people are rethinking it. Slowly. I just don't know if they will ever consider privacy as being something more important than free, or low cost. You may be right here.