Opinion: Europe’s Strict Privacy Rules Are Scary but Right | DigitalNext – AdAge

Here’s a good way to think about privacy legislation: It is an expression of customer concerns, not just regulatory intent. In the U.S., 92 percent of consumers want greater protection for their data — companies often frankly ignore that requirement.

The E.U. and individual European nations have a long history of protecting personal data. It is based on an intimate and painful understanding of what happens when data is abused. People have died because of their data being exposed and abused.

While Apple has ostensibly eschewed collecting data, I think the writer here lionizes Apple despite it’s own use of personal data for its purposes. However, the intention to provide greater choice to consumers over what data will be shared is an important step in the right direction.

As we think about using story to engage and build coalitions of customers, stakeholders, and committed employees, storytellers should respect privacy to enable greater public discourse. As author Timothy Snyder put it in “On Tyranny” when explaining the philosophy of Hannah Arendt: “Totalitarianism removes the difference between private and public not just to make individuals unfree, but also to draw the whole society away from normal politics and toward conspiracy theories.”

If you work in digital media, you need to know that the industry is one year from taking a big step toward Apple’s view. No, this isn’t a case of digital disruption coming (once again) from Silicon Valley. In this case, the seismic shift originates in the European Union. Much of the digital media industry is likely to panic over the coming months. But mark my words: The EU will ultimately lead publishers and advertisers to a better place.

Source: Opinion: Europe’s Strict Privacy Rules Are Scary but Right | DigitalNext – AdAge

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