technology

The difference between European and American privacy approaches is typically framed as E.U. aspiration versus U.S. pragmatism:

• The E.U. views privacy as a source “right of personality” versus the U.S. mosaic of privacy torts;
• the E.U. has comprehensive, federal law versus U.S. spotty, sectoral statutes; and
• the E.U. has spotty enforcement at the nation-state level versus U.S. rigorous enforcement through private right of action, state enforcement through attorneys general, and federal regulation through the Federal Trade Commission.

As Don Cohn has said, “hell on earth is E.U. law and U.S. enforcement.” There’s some truth to these characterizations, but they miss the point. The E.U. and U.S. simply disagree on the priority of two key cultural values, disclosure and discretion — that is, freedoms of the public (i.e., speech, press, assembly) and freedoms of the person (i.e., equal treatment, privacy). We get mired in technocratic detail without recognizing this fundamental cultural difference.

Last week, the European data protection authorities came to Silicon Valley to discuss access and use of online personal data. The clash of values, between rights of the public and rights of the private, could not be more clear. At the Berkeley Law Privacy Forum, Peter Hustinx (European Data Protection Supervisor) said:

“When data have been published or have been shared and it is within your [company’s] power to get them back, you have to make reasonable effort to get the spirit back in the bottle.”

Mr. Hustinx seems to be saying that even if information is published, there’s an obligation to re-cloak it. For example, if two Twitter users get into a heated fight (hey, it happens), and both agree to delete their exchange, Twitter should make “reasonable effort to get the spirit back in the bottle” and delete the tweets. But what if these public tweets are retweeted far and wide? Does Twitter have the obligation to delete them, too? I don’t think so.

What is noticeably absent from this point of view is the public’s right to history, knowledge, and lessons learned. Sure, a public fight often results in public humiliation of the combatants (or at least the loser), and they want to erase the experience from the public record. That’s a mistake. Many of life’s lessons have been learned by witnessing (or sometimes engaging in) playground, barroom, and online fights.

What’s more, the duty to have our public mistakes remembered isn’t just important to our social fabric, it’s a key ingredient to technology innovation. Entrepreneurs aren’t deterred by risking the embarrassment that comes with public failure. To paraphrase famed marketer Geoffrey Moore, please fail publicly so we can learn from your humiliation. We’ll forgive you and thank you.

More from Jim Adler
Chief Privacy Officer, Intelius

In June, Intelius CEO Naveen Jain announced the names of two Intelius Scholars he chose to attend Singularity University's (SU) Graduate Program on full scholarship. The scholarship recipients, Sharron McPherson and Emily Kuria are among only 80 highly credentialed students accepted to SU’s highly competitive Graduate Studies Program.

Specifically, Sharron McPherson was chosen due to her exceptional leadership track record and commitment to solving women's issues through Government Policy and Financing. Emily was selected for her pioneering spirit in breaking gender stereotypes in Science and Math and innovative efforts to improving public health in Kenya.

On Friday, August 26, SU held its closing ceremony at the Mountain View Computer Museum.
This ceremony gave student teams from the Graduate Studies Program the opportunity to display their projects. Here’s an update from Sharon and Emily on the incredible things they’ve accomplished during the rigorous 10 weeks.

Sharon McPherson:
“The first is a concentrated solar power solution for the developed world. On Energy Team 2, we focused on Africa and the idea was to create a dispatchable, affordable renewable energy solution for the 1.8 million people that don't have access to electricity. Once that project was underway, I wanted to explore energy solutions for the DEVELOPED world with a project called Play Energy. Play Energy is an energy efficiency company that aims to help consumers measure and control energy consumption by utilizing next generation energy consoles that include a real time, augmented reality game that links decreased consumption to gaming points.”

Emily Kuria:
“Our team is interested in developing 21st century skills in tween (4-12) and teen (13+) girls by leveraging emerging technologies to expose them to diverse opportunities and positive experiences that facilitate growth and participation. We not only want to educate girls on the skills necessary to survive and succeed in this new world, but we also want to create positive role models in social media that will inspire them. Presently, we have an established partnership with GIGAPIX Studios that have won more than 7 Emmys, and we pitched Google last week. YouTube Google are looking to redefine the way we watch TV, and are moving towards creating long-form content for viewers online. ”

Intelius congratulates Sharon and Emily for their accomplishments! Read about why they were chosen here.


Intelius CEO Naveen Jain with 2011 Scholars