Welcome to the New Era of Internet
Since the EU passed the General Data Protection Regulation on data protection and privacy for all individual citizens of the European Union and the European Economic Area on 14 April 2016. Starting from 25 May 2018, the implementation date of GDPR, it seems to set a good example and a start for “user privacy protection” as the new era of the Internet. A lot of countries, like the United States, are now following the steps of set regulations for data protection and user privacy.
Data Capitalist Era
By the end of last year, there were nearly 4.4 billion Internet users worldwide. While the users enjoy the benefits and convenience of the Internet, they are also paying a price by giving up on their data. Digital giants are obsessed with collecting personal data and data leakage and illegal trading of data become more and more common. And the issue came to the forefront during the 2016 U.S. presidential election when political consulting firms hijacked millions of Facebook users’ profiles and mishandled private data in what became known as the “Facebook - Cambridge scandal”, the whole society has learned the consequences of not paying attention to personal data privacy protection.
To meet GDPR’s requirements, Facebook used 18 months for full preparation to make the privacy settings more convenient, so that users can easily access, download and delete their information. Facebook also created the “Clear History” option, which allows users to look up their submitted web sites and applications, erase them or choose the option of refuse FB to store their personal information.
Based on its business model, Google offers many free services to its users but instead, they need to make money from display advertising based on the use of user data. To follow the GDPR and build their brand image, Google decided to shut down the social media service of Google+ in April 2019 to protect user’s data because as discovered, there were many times that the software flaws allowed partner apps to access its users’ private data in the past year. To protect users’ privacy, Google has two clear policies: they will never sell any personal information to third parties and users can decide how to use their personal information. Google’s products generally use anonymous data, which is more beneficial for everyone.
Privacy is a Human Right
In my opinion, following up on GDPR worldwide and ideally, privacy legislation would require all businesses to be held accountable for the impact of their data processing, while the benefits and disadvantages come with the regulations for both sides, the data generators and data users.
Hundreds of millions of Internet users: Standardize the use of personal data in the form of legislation, so that users have the legal basis to become the owner of their data. Change the passive contribution of personal data for Internet enterprises in the past to the ability to actively restrict the use of personal data by Internet enterprises in the future.
Major Internet companies: In particular, technology giants that have mastered the massive amounts of user data, how to share and fully utilize data and maximize data value on the premise of complying with local laws and regulations and protecting user data privacy? It became a problem that needs to be solved immediately.
For families using the internet via shared devices, privacy can mean secrets from one another; for small business owners who want to start accepting credit cards, privacy means keeping user data safe; and for teenagers who share selfies, privacy could mean the ability to delete those data in the future.
People are increasingly concerned about how their information is used and shared. A user’s trust is a valuable business asset. If you don’t use their data properly, they’ll know and they’ll find out. Customers are smart, so please never underestimate them.
