Importance and Issue of Data Privacy
Today and tomorrow consumers in society are getting influenced by prominent privacy issues related to personal data. These issues are related to companies, industry associations, public interest groups, and government agencies. As a consequence of which, having a significant amount of control over personal information is one is important. Additionally, data privacy issues can be perceived in two aspects that are data privacy and social privacy. In today’s age, it has become quite difficult to manage data privacy.
The intertwining of data privacy and social privacy through the sharing of public information on social networking sites can lead to issues. On the other hand, sharing full details such as physical addresses, email, phone numbers, hometowns, and birth dates can compromise both data privacy and social privacy.
One of the prime examples of such an issue is the increase in the frequency of identity theft. Social networking pages often contain most of the information needed to steal someone’s identity, which can be easily accessed. Additionally, for identity theft, most of the information required involved address, date of birth, and full name.
Issue of Data Privacy
The collection of personal data raises concerns as it can be used for marketing purposes, sold to third-party companies, or even stolen by hackers. Additionally, this can lead to unwanted marketing messages, identity theft, and other forms of cybercrime. In addition, potential identity thieves can access commonly used security information. Example includes a mother’s maiden name, pet name, or childhood address, through applications or quizzes on social networking sites.
Various organizations can use this data for targeted advertising and use it as part of a social graph. They can offer this data to advertisers. Moreover, the information traces every time an individual watches videos on YouTube, browses items from retailers, or clicks on advertisements.
In response to these concerns, there have been efforts to create regulations and standards around data privacy. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe sets strict rules for data collection and use, and requires companies to obtain consent from users before collecting their data.
