I love how some of the tech industry is beginning to see data as a liability rather than an asset. It dramatically reduces the ability for government mass surveillance for two reasons:
1. If companies only collect what they need (to reduce their liability), governments can't demand more than that (or even hack in to get the data illegally).
2. If the industry culture is to limit data collection, governments can't just say, "Well every company does it, so why can't we."
There's a wonderful talk, Haunted By Data, that covers a lot of the societal downsides of treating data as an asset. Highly encourage watching/reading.
1. If companies only collect what they need (to reduce their liability), governments can't demand more than that (or even hack in to get the data illegally).
2. If the industry culture is to limit data collection, governments can't just say, "Well every company does it, so why can't we."
There's a wonderful talk, Haunted By Data, that covers a lot of the societal downsides of treating data as an asset. Highly encourage watching/reading.
Text: http://idlewords.com/talks/haunted_by_data.htm
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXLHM-1Psk