The term ‘myth-busting’ has become common in the field of data protection. The reason, unsurprisingly, is the prevalence of myths that need busting!
Jaap-Henk Hoepman is an Associate Professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen and the University of Groningen. In his book, he highlights some of the main myths that swirl around privacy and data protection.
At its heart, the book is about reclaiming our power. Hoepman urges us to shake off the sense that we simply have to resign ourselves to what is happening to our data and our lives in this digital era.
As the book title suggests, Hoepman takes us through eight myths that have become entrenched in the public narrative.
For each one, he gives us a rich and insightful chapter, breaking down the myth and showing us a positive way forward in responding to them.
Exactly what those of us working in this field need to help us communicate to ‘non-believers’ in a way that is neither patronising nor presumptive.
We all have different views of the world and our place in it. One of the joys as well as the frustrations of working in this area is its nuances.
It means we need to build up and strengthen our intellectual and emotional arguments in a way that is meaningful and effective.
Hoepman does that brilliantly. His eight myths (which will all be very familiar to privacy and data protection professionals) are -
We are not collecting personal data
You have zero privacy anyway – get over it
I’ve got nothing to hide
It’s merely metadata
We always need to know who you are
Your data is safe with us
Privacy and security are a zero-sum game
Privacy is hard
His final chapter is called ‘Busted - Privacy isn’t hard if you try’. In that chapter, Hoepman says “This book has hopefully convinced you that this (privacy/data breaches etc) is not a problem with technology itself, but with the way it is currently developed and used.”
The way it is currently used is down to us. We do not need to resign ourselves to the way things are, we need to ask ourselves if the way things are is the way we want things to be.
If the answer is no, then we need to do something about it. We need to try – just as Hoepman says.
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