On Freedom: The instant New York Times bestseller

by Timothy Snyder

A charter for fair transparency would be based on three principles: (1) things should be transparent to us; (2) we should not be transparent to things; and (3) we should not be oppressed by data we cannot see. From the principle that things should be transparent to us flow five good practices. (1) Social media must ask whether users want investigative reporting in their feeds and open an appropriate algorithmic pathway. (2) Social media must ask whether users want opinions that challenge their own and open an appropriate algorithmic pathway. (3) Social media must issue corrections to users who have viewed false material that was presented to them as news. (4) Every statement and advertisement on social media must be traceable to a human being. (5) All code should be accessible, at a glance and a click, its purpose described in an intelligible English summary. From the principle that we should not be transparent to things flow the next five good practices. (6) We should have to opt into (and not opt out of) the sharing of our data. The default setting on all software should be zero data retention and zero data transfer to third-party sites. (7) Data arising from an action should be communicated only for its plain purpose rather than stored or sold. (8) Every data harvest that does occur should be compensated and listed in a register. (9) Intimate data regarding health, location, and the like should never be stored or transferred. (10) Software must offer privacy settings th...