What is vegan leather? 'Vegan leather' is a term of pretence representing a leather-like product made from vegan materials. The label presumes no animals were harmed in the making of the product. In some stores, you can purchase 'vegan leather' as a dead animal hide dyed in all natural vegetable dyes made from plants. The leather is not vegan, but the plant dyes are 100% vegan.
Real vegans typically won't buy 'vegan leather'. They'll buy belts and shoes made from felt, rubber, canvas and vinyl. Fake leather products are not usually labelled 'vegan leather'. They have labels or tags detailing the nylon or other synthetic materials. However, you'll never know what kind of 'vegan leather' you might be dealing with unless you investigate further.
'Vegan leather' can be a misleading marketing term for the ignorant and/or superficial crowds who will buy things to appear more 'conscious', rather than actually being more conscious. What would motivate someone to buy a product to openly exhibit their misappropriate ethics? Whomever they are, they feel compelled to camouflage themselves among those with high ethical standards. This is so they can witness something they'll never be committed to doing unless the standard hits critical mass. If someone is buying vegan leather, the ethical numbers have these actors & actresses on the defense.
So how are privacy apologetics like vegan leather?
Before I say anything, I respect the efforts of all privacy proponents when they actually are being proactive, regarding data ownership and using ethical privacy UX development practices.
However, there's a wide berth between professional practice of "user privacy principles" and realtime market practice of privacy. That's why you see all the news drama and color between the license and spreadsheet firesales of PII and an employee-caused-breach leading to civil liability. The truth is somewhere between Privacy by Design and Hasn't-gotten-caught-by-the-FTC.
For instance, it may feel counterintuitive to ask an institution like the NSA to adopt basic privacy principles, but it isn't. If the NSA, or any other mass surveillance aperture, is collecting PII and diverse sensitive personal information, they are responsible for protecting that information. Every other business and institution on the planet has to regard personal data rights or face civil liability. They must comply with the laws that protect data owners just like the Big Data 4: Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Palantir.
"BEWARE THE API"
The Big Data 4 are also the face of corporate, or privatized, mass surveillance (SEE: PRISM & Snowden Leaks). They still hunt and gather for global intelligence authorities depending on the purchase (or legal) order from mass surveillance authorities on any given day of the week.
Do they regard privacy? The answer is, more soberly, "When their lawyers say so." They face federal regulatory conventions that place fetters on their ability to completely disregard user privacy. The difference between them and a hacker who breaks into steal your information is a 15 pg Terms of Service agreement. This rationalizes your consent to trade use of your datasets in exchange for an account or use oftheir "free" service.
It has turned out to be more of a faustian bargain with the devil.
So when Facebook and Palantir, both data intelligence gatherers & InQtel startups who own large parcels of Palo Alto Real Estate, put on a Privacy Conference in Sweden it does not seem like authentic privacy standardization at work. By another label, I would call it the privatized Hearts-&-Minds Swedish massage package, as a complimentary consolation prize for sunken US Safe Harbor conventions. Safe Harbor was a years long triumph in privacy apologetics. It is being mourned by people who really don't care about authentic global privacy conventions. I would call this occurrance a case study in gross privacy apologetics, rather than professional privacy pragmatism.
I did think, "Oh this is just 'vegan leather' for Euros who 'lost' something in Safe Harbor."
I can assure you Palantir's rendition of 'vegan leather' won't hold a candle to Privacy By Design. Not even close.