The right to privacy does not exist in the online ‘wild west’, the Joint Committee on Human Rights has concluded.
In a report published last week, it found privacy policies are ‘too complicated’ for the vast majority of people to understand that ‘information is being compiled, without their knowledge, across sites to create a profile’. It is too difficult for people, even tech experts, to find out what they have consented to or to stop information being shared. It heard disturbing evidence about eye tracking software being used to make assumptions about people’s mental health, or profiles being used to discriminate when placing job and housing adverts. It concludes that the ‘consent model is broken’.
