I think ‘The Internet Generation’ is more fitting than Gen Z. According to the Office for National Statistics Report 2020, 92% of UK adults are classed as recent internet users, meaning they used the internet within the previous three months. In the same report, it was found that the highest UK region of internet use was London at 95%, and the lowest was Northern Ireland at 88%. Given that 88% is considered the low end of usage, it is obvious that 21st century living has a certain reliance on the internet. However with internet use comes data collection: those website messages about accepting terms of use refer to cookie collection, which is a form of data tracking. Although there are other options like Incognito mode and VPNs, these are not necessarily long-term or secure solutions. With all of this in mind, where does this leave privacy in the 21st century?
DOMO is a platform that analyses and collects data every year. Though they focus on the United States, the figures are incredible. According to DOMO, the average person produced 102 megabytes of data per minute in 2023. This was made up of all sorts of things; per minute, there were 6.2 million google searches, 69.4 thousand streams of Taylor Swift songs and 6944 ChatGPT prompts (side note: don’t use that in exams). There is also a darker side: at the same time as the streaming, searches and shopping, cyber-criminals launched 30 Distributed Denial of Service attacks per minute in 2023.
So what exactly is privacy? Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights defines this as living privately without government interference; it encompasses family life, home, correspondence and leisure activities. I would argue that the internet is entwined in all of these things, whether it’s messaging family on Whatsapp, chatting with friends on Instagram or bingeing the latest Netflix release. Interestingly, this right is not absolute: it can be interfered with where it is considered to be lawful, necessary and proportionate to the protection of the public safety umbrella. Data collection seems to fall into a grey area.
Cookies are defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a small file of letters and numbers that get downloaded onto your computer or other device every time you visit a website. It remembers user preferences, records items in your Amazon basket and counts the number of site users, and is regulated by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. It is possible to disable or block some cookie collections by deselecting the relevant permissions on whatever website you are using, but this is becoming less of a possibility. The so-called ‘Consent or Pay’ model requires users to pay a subscription fee to the website to browse tracker free and without adverts. “We respect your privacy?”. Personally I am not convinced.
Consent or Pay has been investigated by the ICO, but they found that it is not illegal to ask for payment if the requirements under Article 4(11) of the UK General Data Protection Regulations are met: consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. Companies such as TikTok, Microsoft and Google have previously violated this and been served enormous fines as a result. Though the increase in adverts is a separate issue, the cookie collection is a little concerning. Are we actually giving informed consent to hundreds of companies having access to our information, or just consenting for ease of use?
Incognito Mode is another option for browsing. Widely hailed as the private search patch, Incognito is a useful but slightly misunderstood tool. Apple’s Safari was the first to introduce private browsing in April 2005, with Google Chrome following suit in December 2008. Although using Incognito Mode prevents activity data from being saved onto your device (meaning your search history remains clear and cookies are discarded when the browser closes), websites know who you are regardless. Activity and location are still visible to websites, your school or employer and internet service provider. Basically, it’s good for gift shopping, but not for data protection and privacy.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are another popular solution for guarding privacy, however they do not make you completely invisible. According to Forbes, some VPN providers have access to your data, and will even sell it to make money, which is particularly an issue with free VPN services.
It’s not just web browsers though. Ford recently patented a new in-vehicle infotainment system that allows for driver data to be collected to personalise their advert display. It includes using vehicle location and motion time to predict which stores to display ads for, as well as “audio signals within the vehicle” as a form of feedback. And yes, that does mean that the car would be listening in on conversations.
This kind of data collection makes both the consumer and the company more vulnerable to privacy breaches and potential cyber crimes. The National Cyber Security Centre states Denial of Service attacks render part or all of a service inaccessible. For cars with such powerful infotainment systems this could cause all sorts of problems including – for self-driving cars – potential compromise of safety features. It is unclear how such a system is not in breach of Article 8: to me at least, it doesn’t seem to be a public safety issue if the right type of adverts don’t appear during a car journey.
Another aspect of data collection that seems to be on the rise is location. It may not seem obvious, but how many of us have been thrown out of Netflix recently?
In case you missed it, Netflix has started working on the concept of ‘Households’: a collection of devices connected to the internet at one specific location. On their website, Netflix themselves state that among other things, they use IP addresses to determine whether an account is part of a Household. There is a disclaimer that Netflix does not collect GPS data meaning that they never know your precise location, but IP addresses aren’t too far from this.
NordVPN – define an IP address as a numeric label assigned to a device by a given service provider. It’s like a postcode. This is what Netflix is using to keep track of people’s accounts. Perhaps it’s cynicism, but it feels like a profit driven move which has no reasonable motive. According to Stock Analysis, Netflix has a net worth of $340.49 billion: do they really need the extra £4.99 per month (or £10.99 if you don’t want adverts in the middle of the latest episode of Bridgerton)?
The internet has revolutionised the world. There have been huge advances in communication and education, and these are things to be celebrated. However, the data collection that goes alongside this must be strictly monitored. Companies have a duty to protect consumers and not sacrifice customer safety in favour of increased profits, no matter how tempting it may be: we need to be more aware of what we are consenting to. Privacy as a concept has definitely altered in the last few years in response to this – as has the law – but are we going too far with tracking? It remains to be seen.