About Vael
Since its existence, the internet has largely been deemed the Wild West. Control over personal data on the internet has been virtually non-existent. Big tech companies have made users believe that the exchange of personal data for free services (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Google, etc.) is a fair trade.
Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based data analytics company, suffered a data breach in 2018 that impacted 87 million Americans. The exposed user data was acquired through Facebook for the purposes of creating online political advertisements during the 2016 United States presidential election. This moment in history highlighted just how much of our personal data is controlled by a select few companies like Facebook, and made us question who we can trust with our data¹.
As an effect of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, new data privacy regulation came into existence for big tech companies. These regulations included the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)².
Although laws like the CCPA were a step in the right direction and were long overdue, actually taking action on your CCPA data rights is painstakingly difficult for Californians. These difficulties ultimately make the data privacy rights granted under the CCPA ineffective for those it was created to protect. This is concerning for all Americans, as the CCPA will likely be used as a framework for future federal privacy legislation in the United States.
Out of built up frustration with Big Tech, the existing value proposition of the internet, and the ineffectiveness of the CCPA, Vael was born in 2019. Vael was created to empower internet users, because we believe privacy and data ownership is a fundamental human right. At Vael, we help those seeking to take control of their data by simplifying the act of exercising your data rights. By providing internet users the ability to more easily take control of their data, we are working towards our mission of creating an internet where all users can achieve full ownership of their personal data.
¹ Learn more about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica Scandal
² Learn more about GDPR and the CCPA
https://iapp.org/media/pdf/resource_center/CCPA_GDPR_Chart_PracticalLaw_2019.pdf
