J.R.McHale

“Today’s privacy policies don’t tell consumers the whole story for two main reasons. First, websites have adopted a kind of precautionary legalese to inoculate themselves against lawsuits and fines. The vaguer and more elastic their language, the more risk reduced. Second, over the past ten years, a new industry of ‘data brokerage’ has arisen to help sites learn more about the people like you and me on the other side of the screen . . . Gathering and analyzing that data is big business, and it creates a strong financial incentive for the firms that collect it to make it as difficult as possible for you to opt out of their net.” – Why Privacy Policies Are So Inscrutable – The Atlantic

Related: The Potemkinism of Privacy Pragmatism – Civil Liberties are Too Important to be Left to the Technologists – Slate