Privacy Post: June 14th

GM ☕️

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This is issue #7 of Privacy Post - the not-so-private privacy newsletter, where I share privacy news, knowledge, and technology happenings to keep you: professionals, amateurs, enthusiasts, and anyone looking to learn more, informed on the ever-changing privacy landscape.

🔥 Today’s post includes:

• Knowledge topic 🧠 - Queer data & the stories it tells us

• In the news 🗞 - Google’s potential anti-trust lawsuit, geolocation in AI, U.S. AI privacy bills, and much more

• Meme Post 🤣

Queer data & the stories it tells us

Because we are a data privacy newsletter and it’s Pride Month, it would be completely nonsensical of me not to talk about QUEER DATA!

Queer data: data relating to gender, sex, sexual orientation, and trans identity/history

Data tells stories. A lack of data tells stories. Queer data or lack of queer data tell us many stories about who we were and who we are as a country.

Today I explore the birth story of queer data in the U.S. (it was a lot later than one might expect) and what queer data tells us about the world we live in.

When data isn’t collected, it is neither seen nor understood.

Intentionally not collecting accurate and representative data is seen throughout history with people of color, people with disabilities, Native Americans, queer communities, and many other underrepresented communities. Often minority groups are overlooked because others do not understand or want to acknowledge them as a part of their world. This is exactly what happens with queer data.

Collecting, using, and analyzing queer data in the U.S. is recent. LGBTQ+ data regarding sexual orientation and gender identity wasn’t counted in the U.S. national census until 2021 — 231 years after the first national census. Hearing this fact blew my mind, but also didn’t surprise me after last week’s issue about the numerous data privacy and protection intrusions of the queer community throughout history.

By the U.S. government not collecting data on queer folks until 2021, it further perpetuated the idea that the community doesn’t matter enough to be counted. This hurt queer communities, not only by not being acknowledged but also by leaving them out of the crucial decisions made with the national census data.

Population data is used to inform policies and make funding decisions on services and programs. Leaving out information about sexual orientation and gender identity means that the specific needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ communities were overlooked.

It wasn’t until after pressure from the public and wider acceptance of gender fluidity, the government finally added questions on the census to acknowledge that part of the population.

Post 2021 census, the queer population data is utilized in research and has helped to fill in many gaps and piece together a more accurate picture of the queer experience.

Queer Data Stories

Criminal Justice System

The Prison Policy Initiative utilized the national census data along with existing research on LGBTQ+ involvement and experiences with the criminal justice system to research the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people. They overwhelmingly found “LGBTQ people are overrepresented at every stage of our criminal justice system, from juvenile justice to parole”.

Economic Status

Emerging from the 2021 census there was an alarming trend, which also aligned with other surveys. The LGBT+ population has worse economic outcomes on average than the non-LGBT population. Queer people have limited economic mobility due to employment discrimination, underpay, discriminatory lending practices, and other policies.

Food Security

An analysis of the census information also concluded the LGBTQ+ community faced greater hardship with food insecurity on average during the pandemic than the non-LGBTQ+ population.

To wrap it up, while counting and recognizing LGBTQ+ individuals in a population census is a big step, it’s not enough to stop and rewind the stigmatized and discriminatory stories of the past.

Collecting data on the LGBTQ+ community also comes with fears and hesitations. If history is any guide, we can expect ill treatment toward the LBGTQ+ community around the collection of this information.

In the news…

• Nevada is in line to pass a health data privacy bill similar to Washington’s. It's just waiting for the Governor to sign.

• AI privacy bills are on the move in the US. Connecticut governor signs AI privacy bill while Senator Hawley proposes legislation to guide responsible AI development.

• Privacy experts warn about the collection of geolocation in AI.

• Two Senators probe TikTok on how they handle data. And so the saga continues.

• An anti-trust lawsuit is about to hit Google’s inbox. Subject: Your adtech dept. is getting too dang big

Meme Post

Because today’s post was all about the stories queer data tells us!

That’s all we got for today! See you next week.

😄 This newsletter is a place for all to learn about data privacy, question the technology we use, and understand how it fits into the world we live in.

Disclaimer: The thoughts and ideas of Privacy Post are my own and not of my employer.