Mozilla's Denelle Dixon-Thayer: Trading Away Your Privacy

Don't trust Facebook or Google with your personal information? You're not alone.

A recent Reason-Rupe poll found that when it comes to their personal info, more Americans trust even the National Security Agency or the Internal Revenue Service over Google or Facebook.

Mozilla's Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, Denelle Dixon-Thayer, says "data hygiene" should be something every new or established tech company should be thinking about.

"Trust is our currency," said Thayer to Reason TV at the 2014 South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. "If we don't have the trust of our users then we actually aren't going to be successful as a company."

Dixon-Thayer says big data companies need to be upfront with users about who has access to their data, how long their data is stored, and do what they can to inform users of government data requests.

"With data, may come a reward, but also a substantial risk," says Dixon-Thayer, who points out that if you keep information for a long time your company becomes open to subpoenas and NSA requests.

"It's just thinking about what that data can do for you and when does it lose its value to you," says Dixon-Thayer

In October 2013, Mozilla endorsed the USA FREEDOM Act, which would have amended the PATRIOT Act and ended dragnet collection of phone data while providing more oversight of surveillance programs and the FISA court. The bill is pending in the house judiciary committee.

Approximately 7:27.

Interview by Paul Detrick. Produced by Todd Krainin. Shot by Krainin and Alexis Garcia.

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