Can privacy war between tech giants force industry changes?

Social media tracks a lot of what we say and do online. You Google something you have thought about buying, and then you are hounded by advertisements for whatever that was, seemingly everywhere you look.

Now two of the world’s biggest tech giants – Apple and Facebook – appear to be going to war over just how much data tech companies should take and how much say users should have.

Apple’s new update will mean whenever users open an app, they will be asked whether they want their data to be tracked.

Facebook is not happy about it, so it is going on the offensive, rolling out pop-ups of its own with the same kind of privacy options, but spun in a very different way.

Apple says Facebook does not need so much data. Facebook says that data is crucial to ensuring ads are personalised and without it, small businesses will go under.

But is all this really about protecting people’s data?

Presenter: Kim Vinnell

Guests:

Rebecca MacKinnon – Director of Ranking Digital Rights

Michael Veale – Lecturer in digital rights and regulation at Faculty of Laws at University College London

Eric Null – United States policy manager at Access Now – a group that defends digital rights