A key question in the data ethics world is whether protecting society from the harmful abuses of data requires greater government regulation (the “European approach”) or is possible with industry self-regulation and codes of ethics within a free market context (the “American approach”). Surprisingly, a recent survey suggests that more than half of Americans “fear the federal government won’t do enough to regulate big tech companies”. Perhaps Americans are concerned enough to be seeking strong solutions.
The survey certainly suffers from selection and non-response biases, but was appropriately weighted to represent the US population and is probably not too far from the truth. In any case, it’s an interesting data point demonstrating that the public is taking these issues seriously.
Wrong, but useful 