Permissions and Privacy

Abstract

User privacy is, increasingly, a source of contention. This often-tense relationship between data originators (such as end-users) and data consumers (such as advertisers and service providers) flares up with every revelation of abusive data disclosure. While the essence of the problem is one of incentive misalignment, the problem starts with the difficulty with which privacy can be quantified and understood—and therefore compared. This difficulty aggravates the tension by encouraging predatory behavior among data consumers. At the heart of the problem is the way in which data, permissions to the data, and algorithmic objectives are handled. Moreover, with the increased deployment of IoT installations, resulting in a massive growth of data, this problem is bound to get worse—unless addressed in a thoughtful manner. We lay the foundation for a structural change to improve privacy; we argue that our approach constitutes an important alternative to increased regulation as well as an opportunity for big-data companies to improve their image in the eyes of the public.