Author: Pavol Magic / Source: The Next Web
In 2017 alone, US companies spent upwards of $10 billion on third party audience data. And while generally speaking, people were once indifferent or oblivious to the way personal data was collected, the tide has certainly turned.
In the wake of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, people are more aware than ever of the tenuous nature of data collection, and more concerned about how securely tech and financial institutions catalog this data.
And with good reason: according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were 1,579 data breaches in 2017, an alarming 44.7 percent uptick from the year before.
The world of data is opaque – and it can be unsettling for citizens to hear about this personal data infringement in the media. But as someone’s who’s worked very closely with data, I’ve learnt a fair share about it over the years:
Nobody has any idea about how their data is being collected and used
According to Pew Research, nine in 10 adults feel that control over personal information collection is ‘very important’ And yet, only nine percent of people feel they have a strong command over the information being collected about them.
Some data collection is pretty obvious, even to the most casual user. Google catalogs a record of search history. Spotify tracks music listening habits. There’s no surprises there.
However what about other types of applications – say, location services? Most people aren’t aware how their location data is being collected and used by companies like Facebook and Google.
Typically, companies are just trying to build better products to survive in a dynamic, data-driven landscape – and well, ultimately please the end user.
Information about how data is collected is usually available in an application’s ‘Terms and Conditions’ that users agree to when they sign up for an app.
However, only one percent of people actually take the time to read what’s in there. The documents are dense and long-winded.
Especially considering the current data privacy landscape, companies should be working to present this information to users as simply as possible – whether it be during the on boarding process of the app, or through a concise blog post.
And for companies handling the data of EU residents, doing so is now mandatory. The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) became enforceable on May 25th, giving residents unprecedented control over their personal data, as well as the requirement to ‘opt in’ to have their data collected.
There is a huge lack of transparency in the entire industry
While some companies make an effort…
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