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Article

21 Dec 2019

Author:
Editorial Board, The New York Times

Commentary: Total surveillance is not what America signed up for

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The Supreme Court has ruled that the location data served up by mobile phones is... covered by constitutional protections. The government can’t request it without a warrant… But the private sector doesn’t need a warrant to get hold of your data… The largest such file known to have been examined by journalists… reveals more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans across several major cities… [C]onsumers… receive many benefits from surrendering so much information… [but why should it be] stored forever in a manner that puts privacy at risk and allowed to be sold to the highest bidder… Data classified as personally identifiable is subject to regulations that can restrict its distribution and sale, with penalties for violations… [however] there is no uniform federal definition of personally identifiable information, the states have created their own… [the] central principle of the General Data Protection Regulation… [body that governs privacy across the European Union] is “purpose limitation,”… [Additionally] The 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act provides assurances that children under 13 will not be surveilled by websites and technology companies without their parents’ permission… [but] The American public should see the full scope of the corporate surveillance to which it is subjected… [and] Lawmakers have the power to subpoena companies and demand transparency about what data they collect from American citizens and what happens to it.