Digital privacy group ProPrivacy.com pulled a fast one on test subjects asked to agree, as we all are every time we use our devices to add a new app, to the terms and conditions they laid out in one of those ridiculously long, legalese, service agreements.They tracked who actually read the agreement giving parental consent to view their online history, naming rights for their firstborn child, and the right for drones to invade their airspace. One person out of 100 did.
And that’s statistically consistent with what a Deloitte survey of 2,000 Americans found. 91% of people agree to the terms without reading them.Among those under the age of 35, it’s 97%.
“I co-authored the data privacy act that got passed in this last session that got whittled down to just a viability study,” says Chris Humphreys, Director and CEO of the Anfield Group in Austin, a Critical Infrastructure company.“Data is the number one commodity in the world today. It’s more valuable than gasoline right now.”
And yet we give it away for free.
“These people are using the data we provide, and selling it to third parties and other places, using it to their own advantage. They want to make it complicated to not disclose that to the consumer,” says Humphreys.
One insurance company hid in their copy an offer of a prize to anyone who emailed them.One woman, a Georgia high school teacher, did and was awarded $10,000.
What we give away each time we click “I agree” without considering what we’re agreeing to can cost far more in the long run.