The rise of social media has significantly changed how brick and mortar stores like mine operate. Yet while much has changed, at its core many things are still the same. Take, for instance, hair salons.
The way customers find stylists has been remarkably consistent throughout time: A customer gets a haircut they like, people ask where they got it, they refer a new customer to me.
Combining advertising with word of mouth is a powerful way for me to receive new business.
And while advertising technology has changed, the principles remain the same. Stylists build portfolios on social media and hashtags become a tool to track a stylist or salon. All of this occurs in a digital landscape where customers, fans and others track and discover new stylists. Social media has become a tool that has given individual stylists like me the ability to build a community with customers.
This change is everywhere. Restaurants that used to be completely analog now use scheduling software and apps to provide an efficient experience for all. Doctor’s offices use patient portals to reach us and, four years ago, many of us had to take appointments directly from our phone.
Amid all this, we see a growing backlash against technology companies — “techlash” — that could set many of us back significantly.
While there isn’t much getting done in Congress these days, “techlash” seems to be uniting its many members. The dubiously named “American Privacy Rights Act (APRA)” threatens to disrupt small businesses across the country while doing very little to actually safeguard Americans privacy concerns.
Take, for instance, selling and sharing data. According to this bill, any business that sells or shares data would be at risk of a lawsuit. This may sound good on paper, but for many of us, “data” is just simple information used to reach customers.
Imagine if, 40 years ago, someone said we should restrict the selling and sharing of the information found in publicly-available phonebooks. That gives you an idea how unworkable this will be.
There’s a real need for a national privacy law, yet that’s overshadowed by how inconsistent this bill is. It’s clear small businesses were not kept in mind when this legislation was drafted.
Data compliance is becoming an increasingly challenging issue for small businesses because, over the past few years, states have started passing their own data laws. Absent a federal data law, we risk seeing 50 different state data laws popping up, each with its own nuance or quirk, which puts the onus on small business owners to keep track. This means that businesses are forced to hire someone to ensure compliance, which means higher prices for the services we depend on.
The APRA has a chance to fix this but, yet again, it misses the mark.
While the bill says it will preempt state law, there are a myriad of carve outs. For example, there is a small business exclusion, but we rely on the widely available digital advertising tools the bill would dismantle. The bill also seems to allow duplicative enforcement at the state and federal level, as well as a right to sue, which could expose small businesses to lawsuits and fines.
Lawmakers risk sleepwalking us into a situation where small businesses that depend on national scale are forced to be compliant with not just 50 state data laws, but also a confusing federal law.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee deserves much credit for acknowledging the value of digital advertising as “lifeblood of the internet economy [that] allows businesses of every size to reach their customers quickly and efficiently.” But bills like APRA would have a crushing effect on businesses across the country, while still not addressing the valid privacy concerns that exist.
As policymakers consider ways to address concerns around privacy protections of personal data and market concentration of the large tech platforms, there is a critical need to muster up some human intelligence to craft a more nuanced, smart policy on digital advertising.
Policymakers will best serve the public interest by avoiding the penchant for overregulating and increasing the cost of doing business for me and fellow entrepreneurs.
Lauren Spatafore is a small business owner in Sandy and currently owns a hair salon employing 28 hair stylists, assistants and reservationists.
Lauren Spatafore has been in the hair industry for more than 10 years and has watched how much it has grown and elevated. For the past six years, she has been a small business owner in the Sandy area and currently owns a hair salon employing 28 hair stylists, assistants and reservationists.
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