Opinion | It’s Time to Panic About Privacy

Equifax on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange following its 2017 data breach disclosure. Tami Chappell / Reuters

4chan, an internet forum board, leaked sexually personal photos of celebrities in 2016. Shutterstock

U.C.L.A. Health’s network of at least 4.5 million health records was compromised by hackers in 2016. Shutterstock

A screenshot demonstration of Ring’s surveillance social network app, Neighbors. Ring Marketing

ISPs and networks store and transport data through data centers like this one. Sally Ryan / The New York Times

Uber geolocation data visualization

Facebook

Amazon facial recognition

Genetic Testing

Amazon Alexa

Fitbit Charge

Venmo

Government geolocation surveillance

WeChat

Government facial recognition

Genetic Testing

Alibaba Tmall Genie

Xiaomi Mi Band

Alibaba Sesame Credit

Opinion It’s Time to Panic About Privacy By Farhad Manjoo Opinion columnist at The New York Times

Illustrations by Ariel Davis
Designed by Jessia Ma

Privacy is a thing we all say we want.

You get mad when it’s invaded or mishandled. Say, when Equifax leaks your credit info, when your nudes show up on 4chan or when your health data is held ransom.

But privacy is also something a lot of people are happy to trade away at a moment’s notice, for the slightest reward. We claim to want it, companies claim to provide it, neither side is really being entirely honest about the trade, and we all just kind of accept that…

You don’t have any privacy online.

But the latest innovations in tech are elevating questions of privacy into much larger social, moral, political and economic issues.

Consider digital home security cameras, a key part of your “smart home.”

Privacy-wise, they don’t seem especially novel. You want to be alerted when a “bad guy” comes to your door, but not when your neighbor walks by. So you get a camera that scans and remembers faces. Very convenient!

But what do you do when it spots someone — wink, wink — “suspicious”? What happens when concerned neighbors start sharing these faces on the neighborhood social network?

What if law enforcement gets in on the act? Maybe every new face is checked against sex-offender databases, or maybe Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Is that O.K.?

Ring, one of the biggest doorbell-cam companies, already has a creepy neighborhood watch social network. It has filed a patent for creating a “database of suspicious persons.”

Wait, that’s crazy. You don’t want to profile people. You just want peace of mind that your family is safe.

You like these cameras because you can get alerted when your kids come home, and watch your dog from afar. Isn’t that cute?

But where’s all that data going? Can your abusive spouse get it? Your internet company? The smart home is becoming a treasure trove of the most intimate data about your life — and there are few controls over it.

Domestic abusers are already using smart-home devices to spy on their victims. And even if they don’t literally watch your videos, Congress passed rules in 2017 that allow broadband companies to track your digital data, including smart-home data.

O.K., you didn’t sign up for all that.

You’re really just worried about package thieves! Isn’t it your right to monitor your front door to make sure your toilet paper isn’t getting stolen?

Sure, but have you ever considered the privacy of the workers delivering your toilet paper? Thanks to doorbell cameras, delivery drivers can be watched and tracked on the job. Is that O.K.?

Of course, it’s about more than doorbells. Each time you buy some new device or service that trades in private information — your DNA, your location, your online activity — you are gambling on an uncertain and unprotected future.

Here is the stark truth: We in the West are building a surveillance state no less totalitarian than the one the Chinese government is rigging up.

But while China is doing it through government …

… we are doing it through corporations and consumer products, in the absence of any real regulation that recognizes the stakes at hand.

It is time to start caring about the mess of digital privacy. In fact, it’s time to panic.

This column is part of The Privacy Project, a series from The New York Times Opinion.

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