Privacy Talk Heats Up at Aspen: MPAA Chief Says Tech Must Do More; Google Rep Says It's Happening
ASPEN, Colo. -- Seeking a national conversation on resolving what some feel are tech's harms, the head of MPAA said that without compromise from internet companies, another option is tweaking laws that let them avoid liability in some situations for what's on their platforms. He said such a change could require additional "proactive steps" for such liability protections. "One of the most vibrant and interconnected human ecosystems in history" is "in serious jeopardy," CEO Charlie Rivkin said of the internet. At a Technology Policy Institute event Monday, he sought "a declaration of accountability for cyberspace." Speaking on the following panel, a representative from Google pushed back on such criticism while saying his company is taking privacy seriously and is eyeing further privacy safeguards.
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"An avalanche of harms is taking place across online platforms" threatening laws and norms by hate speech, online piracy, privacy intrusions and other issues, Rivkin said. He wants a dialogue on "return[ing] the internet to its original promise" of "vibrant and civil discourse" and legitimate commerce. "Online platforms must do more to mitigate the harms that they are enabling" and "work collaboratively and collectively to mitigate" them, Rivkin said. His remarks were later posted online.
If online platforms don't start working with more stakeholders, Rivkin suggested Congress could "recalibrate the online immunities." A zero-sum game "has come to define Silicon Valley’s relationship with many industries" even as "we become more interdependent than ever," he said. "It's better to work together than cut each other off at the knees." A "nascent industry" needed platform immunity under Communications Decency Act Section 230 and Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512, but that's no longer the case, he said. "Many platforms still cite statutes" from such a past decade "solely to avoid their own accountability," Rivkin said: "Internet platforms must bear responsibilities" for harms "they wittingly or unwittingly help facilitate." The Internet Association later defended CDA Section 230.
Fix the online equivalent of street crime's broken windows rule now, MPAA's boss said. "We really have seen some powerful examples of how we can begin the collaborative effort to turn the tide in the right direction." He cited Amazon's membership in the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, created to reduce online piracy, and noted the alliance also includes HBO (now part of AT&T), Netflix and all MPAA company members. Rivkin also said the CEOs of Facebook and Uber are recognizing some of tech's issues.
It's "true that there is a lot of negative publicity now around internet platforms" and privacy, Google Director-Public Policy and Government Relations Wilson White said, but tech is working on the issues Rivkin identified. He noted tech's economic, societal and other benefits. "We have to figure out" what the appropriate consumer trade-offs are, he said. "What data are we willing to give up ... so we’re not compromising our values around privacy?"
"At Google, we see the writing on the wall, with GDPR, what’s happening with privacy in Brazil, there is a newfound effort" in part spurred by the EU general data protection regulation to define some issues on data privacy, White said. "In almost every country, there is some law that governs data privacy," and he wants to "make sure that we are doing a thorough diligence of what already exists" before further acting. "It’s a nontrivial problem to fix privacy, when you have such a dynamic view of what it means" in terms of user preferences, White said. He said his company supports a baseline privacy approach and tries to give consumers choice and control.