Stopping the biggest lie on the Internet
Everybody knows about the biggest lie on the Internet. It is:
☑ Yes, I read the Privacy policy and I agree with every single word of it.
But there is an easy way to stop that lie: Just enforce by law, that the single checkbox is not considered sufficient anymore to agree with 150 pages of juridical text. Instead there must be a short exam about randomly selected statements, such as one percent of all statements of the policy. E.g. instead of just agreeing to Microsoft Privacy policy when using Skype, users have to go through something like this:
1. Please fill in the missing term about the personal data we collect:
Contacts and _____________. Data about your contacts and _____________ if you use a product to share information with others, manage contacts, communicate with others, or improve your productivity.
(Correct answer: "relationships")
2. What would you need to get before using recording features of Skype?
(Correct answer: "consent from all parties to the communication in advance")
3. As you well know, we store and process your personal data in your region, in the United States, and in any other country where Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers operate facilities. In which countries are our major data centers maintained?
☐ Australia
☐ Austria
☐ Azerbaijan
☐ Bavaria
☐ Brazil
☐ Canada
☐ Chile
☐ Denmark
☐ Finland
☐ France
☐ Germany
☐ Greece
☐ Hong Kong
☐ India
☐ Iran
☐ Ireland
☐ Jamaica
☐ Japan
☐ Korea
☐ Kyrgyzstan
☐ Luxembourg
☐ Malaysia
☐ Mexico
☐ Netherlands
☐ Norway
☐ Scotland
☐ Singapore
☐ Switzerland
☐ South Africa
☐ United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
☐ United States of America
(Correct answer: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America)
4. You did realise that storing your personal data on US data centers is illegal in the EU, didn't you?
☐ Yes
☐ No
(Whatever answer: End of game for users in the EU)
Sorry, Microsoft, I'm not picking on you! I could have used any other service than Skype, but it is so popular these days!
#dataprotection #privacy #gdpr #eu #privacypolicy #skype #microsoft