How to protect trail of data generated from online activities
The Internet makes it possible to quickly find information, communicate with people around the world, manage your finances, shop from home, listen to music, watch videos, and much, much more.
A digital footprint grows in many ways — for example, posting on social media, subscribing to a newsletter, leaving an online review, or shopping online.
Keeping that in mind, the importance of privacy and data protection is increasingly recognized. Of equal concern is the collection, use and sharing of personal information to third parties without notice or consent of consumers. 137 out of 194 countries had put in place legislation to secure the protection of data and privacy.
The importance of data privacy can be examined from an individual’s point of view and from a business perspective:
➡ FOR INDIVIDUALS:
Privacy laws around the world aim to give back individuals control over their data, empowering them to know how their data is being used, by whom and why, giving them control over how their personal data is being processed and used.
Organizations that collect personal data are obligated to respond to those questions and manage personal data in a compliant way.
➡ FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE:
Businesses cannot operate without processing personal data in some way. However, in order to stay compliant, companies now have to manage personal data in a transparent and compliant way, be accountable for personal data they process, and adhere to privacy principles.
Otherwise, they risk huge regulatory fines, loss of customers’ trust, investor appeal, and data breaches.
Organizations should take this into consideration when creating their business plans, strategies, and marketing activities. Not only because of fines but also because this is what individuals will expect.
DATA PROTECTION LEGISLATION
Countries with legislation stands at 71% and other 9% are with draft legislation. General Data Protection Regulation marked the first serious intent to control the excessive exploitation of personal data.
After the GDPR, the US Congress passed similar laws, soon followed by Brazil (LGPD) and China (PIPL). In the years to come, data protection laws will continually evolve and more governments will pass similar initiatives.
African countries have not left behind, Most of them have enacted data protection legislation. Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Tunisia have the data protection act in place while Tanzania is on its final stage to implement the Act.
ALL ONLINE ACTIVITY GENERATES A TRAIL OF DATA
Websites, apps, and services collect data on your behaviors, interests, and purchases. Sometimes, this includes personal data, like your Social Security and driver’s license numbers. It can even include data about your physical self, like health data — think about how a smartwatch counts and records how many steps you take.
While it’s true that you cannot control how each byte of data about you and your family is shared and processed, you are not helpless! In many cases, you can control how you share your data with a few simple steps. Remember, your data is precious, and you deserve to be selective about who you share it with.
Here are some simple, easy tips you that will help you manage your data privacy:
Know the tradeoff between privacy and convenience
Nowadays, when you download a new app, open a new online account, or join a new social media platform, you will often be asked for access to your personal information before you can even use it! This data might include your geographic location, contacts, and photos.
For these businesses, this personal information about you is tremendously value — and you should think about if the service you get in return is worth the data you must hand over, even if the service is free.
Make informed decisions about sharing your data with businesses or services
Is the service, app, or game worth the amount or type of personal data they want in return?
Can you control your data privacy and still use the service?
Is the data requested even relevant for the app or service (that is, “why does a Solitaire game need to know all my contacts”)?
If you haven’t used an app, service, or account in several months, is it worth keeping around knowing that it might be collecting and sharing your data?
Adjust privacy settings to your comfort level
For every app, account, or device, check the privacy and security settings. These should be easy to find in a Settings section and should take a few moments to change. Set them to your comfort level for personal information sharing; generally, we think it’s wise to lean on the side of sharing less data, not more.
You don’t have to do this for every account at once, start small and over time you’ll make a habit of adjusting all your settings to your comfort. We have in-depth, free resources like our Manage Your Privacy Settings page that lets you check the settings of social media accounts, retail stores, apps and more.
Protect your data
Data privacy and data security go hand-in-hand. Along with managing your data privacy settings, follow some simple cybersecurity tips to keep it safe.
1. Create long (at least 12 characters), unique passwords for each account and device. Use a password manager to store each password — maintaining dozens of passwords securely is now easier than ever.
2. Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever it is permitted — this keeps your data safe even if your password is compromised.
3. Turn on automatic device, software, and browser updates, or make sure you install updates as soon as they are available.
4. Learn how to identify phishing messages, which can be sent as emails, texts, or direct messages.
