We give safety ratings to cars and restaurants. Why not do the same to protect our digital lives?

The American economy runs on what are known as heuristics, a diverse array of mental short-cuts that help consumers make a dizzying number of choices to navigate the wild complexity of everyday life.

We enter sites, download apps , communicate over platforms, access our financial information without the slightest clue about what the entities with which we share such information do with it.

A more robust regulatory regime for the digital world could draw on the power of grading systems to send a clear message to consumers about the risks that particular apps or sites may pose to our digital privacy.

A simple, easy-to-understand system would grade companies on how well they do in terms of protecting their customers’ privacy or violate it.

In a digital world, one could adopt a type of digital “zoning” modelled after land-use restrictions in IRL .

Ray Brescia : Digital zoning would establish a clear and easy-to-understand approach to online privacy.

It could establish a market-driven system that makes clear to consumers which companies protect their privacy and which might violate it.

Government will have a hand in helping to write the rules of the road and setting the contours of the zones.