Regulation and Consumption

I sent the following to BBC TechLife - with a tl;dr audio version - but on the assumption they won't use it, I thought it worth posting here as well.

"My name is Tom Stoneham and I am an academic working on Data Privacy, Digital Rights and Responsible AI.

There has been a lot of discussion recently about regulation of AI and biometric surveillance like facial recognition. I do not want to stop that drive for regulation, but I think it is important to recognise that it is necessary but not sufficient to protect the privacy and well-being of ordinary citizens. There are four reasons for this:

1. It is TOO LATE - responding to technologies already deployed (and often monetised)

2. It is TOO LOCAL - laws apply in geographic jurisdictions but technology is global

3. It is TOO HARD to enforce - sometimes because it is hard to know whether a specific implementation is actually breaking the law but also because tech companies have the resources and motivation to use all legal means to resist

4. And it is subject to REGULATORY CAPTURE by both the businesses developing and deploying the technologies and branches of government that are also interested in using the technology.

What we need to add to regulation is citizen - or more specifically - CONSUMER action. This is beginning to work in the food industry where we see more products with Fairtrade ingredients, reduced packaging, natural ingredients, low sugar etc.

There is already a small but growing market for Privacy Enhancing Technologies and if consumer groups increase awareness, that market will grow and influence the 'Big Tech'. After all, they just want to make money.

We already see this happening. Many of your listeners will have seen (or heard) adverts promoting WhatsApp's privacy features and DuckDuckGo (the private search engine) has been advertising on bus shelters in my area. The more consumers who choose technology on the basis of privacy and ethics, the more these considerations will be built in to product design in the future."