When doing research for my blogs, I am constantly searching Quora to find inspiration for my privacy-infused articles and get a glimpse of the most talked-about data privacy topic.
I often encounter questions that everyday people, just like you and me, seek answers to.
As someone who is so heavily involved in data protection and data privacy, I often fail to realize most of us hear buzzwords that don’t really say much.
Facebook fines and WhatsApp privacy policies seem so remote from our everyday lives that we don’t pay much attention (you are still going to use the app no matter what), or the feeling of helplessness is too grand for us to feel like we can do something about it.
It is what it is. It’s just…I have a hard time accepting that.
I don’t need GDPR
The questions on Quora would vary from “How can I block those annoying GDPR-enforced cookie warnings on every website?” to “Honestly, why should I care when companies like Google collect data about me?”
This shows the alarming state of unawareness about why data protection and privacy are important in today's society. Nevertheless, they deserve to be answered.
We see a trend in emerging data protection regulations worldwide, and we have to ask ourselves, why and for whom is it for?
All data protection laws are set out to protect the individual's data. They equip you with tools and means to probe organizations, ask questions, raise the alarm, and file complaints. So why not use it?
One of the main reasons individuals question if the whole GDPR thing is necessary is thinking they have nothing to hide and don’t care who uses their data. They want fewer complications and fewer consent pop-ups.
Why should you care about your privacy?
It is your right, of course, to treat your personal information the way you want, but that certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the option to change your mind.
For instance, would you like your private medical records, phone data, or exam grade to be publicly available? No matter what, I would like to have some control over that data.
It is not just about Google and Google-like companies. It’s about public authorities, your hospital, your car insurance company, your kid's kindergarten, and school. Everyone is obligated to be GDPR compliant and ask for your consent.
Of course, there are situations when they will process your data because they are obligated by law. However, your data should never be abused.
The world may change, you might change, companies, public bodies ,authorites and organizations who process your data may change. The way your data is (ab)used can change and have a greater impact on your life than you think.
In one of my recent blogs, I talked about why GDPR was necessary:
“The answer is simple- technology is advancing rapidly. We live in unprecedented times, where you, as an individual, produce and share enormous amounts of data.[…] That data is at the center of profit for many organizations, and it is harvested and used in ways that weren’t even imaginable just a few years ago.
While previous data protection laws did not follow this technological development, the GDPR was set out to “catch up” and disrupt how things have been done thus far.”
However, we need to change too. Our attitude towards our privacy should be a helping hand to regulations like GDPR.
So what happens to your personal data?
For example, targeted website marketing or online behavioral advertising collects data and observes your online behavior to make custom advertisements more relevant to your likes and interests.
Custom advertising can be made based on interactions that an individual has engaged in on the company’s website (like a purchase history) or conducted by the third-party ad network.
Working with multiple clients, ad networks can connect various types of data, from different websites, partners, add networks, and create an informed profile about each individual.
Using cookies and partner websites, add network can record other personal information about items and websites individuals viewed, IP address, advertisements clicked, and purchase history. Now you get a unique identifier and a profile.
When you revisit their website, they can identify you using a unique identifier and display a custom advertisement. There are many more ways in which businesses use the data they collect.
It’s not just about greed and who is selling and making a profit out of your data. Your personal data can also be mismanaged, leaked, breached, hacked, sold, copied, merged with other data sets and turned into something else.
If that is fine with you, that’s ok. But it’s not fine with me.
Cookie and consent notices are far less annoying than targeted advertising that exploits my emotional state and sensitive data to turn me into a consumer without my consent (Yes, they can target you for an ice cream ad during that time of the month).
It is also not okay for TikTok, Google, Facebook, and others to sell my data, copy stuff from my phone, access my photos, videos, microphone, and camera, and turn them on and off as they please with no legitimate reason.
What I think about my privacy
To conclude this story, yes, you have something to hide- your personal life, your kids' privacy, your photos, your passwords, and your bank account info.
It is still puzzling to me how people find their personal data so worthless while everyone else is making a profit out of it.
Something to think about…
