In Defense of Data: Information and the Costs of Privacy

Lenard, Thomas M.; Rubin, Paul H.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1407731

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Privacy regulation can affect the nature and distribution of economic outcomes (Goldfarb and Tucker 2012a). Edelman (2009) and Lenard and Rubin (2009) emphasize that there is a trade-off between the use of online customer data to subsidize zero-price goods and advertising performance. Goldfarb and Tucker (2011d) show that European privacy regulation that restricted online tracking led to a substantial decline in the effectiveness of online advertising in Europe.…”

Section: How Do Digital Markets Affect Privacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Economics

Goldfarb

Tucker

2019

Journal of Economic Literature

1,359

417

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Digital technology is the representation of information in bits. This technology has reduced the cost of storage, computation, and transmission of data. Research on digital economics examines whether and how digital technology changes economic activity. In this review, we emphasize the reduction in five distinct economic costs associated with digital economic activity: search costs, replication costs, transportation costs, tracking costs, and verification costs. (JEL D24, D83, L86, O33, R41)

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Section: How Do Digital Markets Affect Privacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Economics

Goldfarb

Tucker

2019

Journal of Economic Literature

1,359

417

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“…Consequences.-However, such regulation will impose costs. As set out by Evans (2009) and Lenard and Rubin (2009), there is a trade-off between the use of online customer data and the effectiveness of advertising.…”

Section: A Online Advertisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privacy and Innovation

Goldfarb

Tucker²

2012

Innovation Policy and the Economy

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Information and communication technologies now enable firms to collect detailed and potentially intrusive data about their customers both easily and cheaply. Privacy concerns are thus no longer limited to government surveillance and public figures' private lives. The empirical literature shows that privacy regulation may affect the extent and direction of data-based innovation. We also show that the impacts of privacy regulation can be extremely heterogeneous. We therefore argue that digitization has made privacy policy a part of innovation policy.

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“…As a starting point, a number of privacy advocates have argued that, in order for individuals to be able to maintain the appropriate degree of control over how digital platforms aggregate, share, and monetize their data, users of these platforms must be afforded legitimate property rights over their personal data (see, e.g., Bergelson, ; Feld, ). Others, however, have argued that such an approach is too simplistic, and ignores important complexities and benefits associated with the markets that have developed around aggregations of user data (see, e.g., Evans, ; Lenard & Rubin, ; Purtova, ; Schwartz, ; Spiekermann‐Hoff, Acquisti, & Hui, ; Tene & Polonetsky, , ; Tisne, ). For this reason, it has been argued that “the dichotomy ‘property in personal data’ vs ‘no property in personal data’ … is false” (Purtova, , p. 84).…”

Section: Privacy and The Contested State Of User Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

User Data as Public Resource: Implications for Social Media Regulation

Napoli¹

2019

Policy & Internet

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Revelations about the misuse and insecurity of user data gathered by social media platforms have renewed discussions about how best to characterize property rights in user data. At the same time, revelations about the use of social media platforms to disseminate disinformation and hate speech have prompted debates over the need for government regulation to assure that these platforms serve the public interest. These debates often hinge on whether any of the established rationales for media regulation apply to social media. This article argues that the public resource rationale that has been utilized in traditional media regulation in the United States applies to social media. The public resource rationale contends that, when a media outlet utilizes a public resource—such as the broadcast spectrum, or public rights of way—the outlet must abide by certain public interest obligations that may infringe upon its First Amendment rights. This article argues that aggregate user data can be conceptualized as a public resource that triggers the application of a public interest regulatory framework to social media sites and other digital platforms that derive their revenue from the gathering, sharing, and monetization of massive aggregations of user data.

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In Defense of Data: Information and the Costs of Privacy

Cited by 13 publications

References 24 publications

Digital Economics

Digital Economics

Privacy and Innovation

User Data as Public Resource: Implications for Social Media Regulation

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