Why Placing a Price Tag on Personal Data May Harm Consumer Privacy

Lokke Moerel and Chris Lyon authored an article for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) covering the small number of companies that are disproportionately profiting from consumers’ data, and explaining how the economic gap continues to grow between technology companies and the consumers whose data drives the profits of these companies.

“There are many reasons why societies may seek to distribute a portion of the wealth generated from personal information to the consumers who are the source and subject of this personal information,” the authors wrote. “This does not lessen the need for privacy laws to protect this personal information, however. By distinguishing clearly between economic objectives and privacy objectives and moving away from consent-based models that fall short of both objectives, we can best protect consumers and their data, while still enabling companies to unlock the benefits of AI and machine learning for industry, society, and consumers.”

Read the full article.