Information-sharing ecosystems: How they operate and what that means for privacy legislation

Events like the Edward Snowden leaks, massive data breaches, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal have increased awareness of the data we generate from our devices and our daily lives. We have visibility into some of this data use; social media is very much in the spotlight, and users often wonder what personal information accounts for the advertisements that they are served online. But much less is known about other ways that personal information is collected and shared to support e-commerce, cloud services, business planning, and research of all kinds.

On June 27, as part of its ongoing focus on the privacy debate, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings hosted a public discussion on these information-sharing systems, exploring the ways they operate as well as the individual, societal, and business interests at stake. Following opening remarks, two panels of experts took up different aspects of these systems, and how the interests involved should be addressed as Congress considers federal privacy legislation.

Following the discussion, each panel answered questions from the audience.