Most of us have gone fully digital. It is apparent that we want it and that it works for us, but are we ready for that? While convenience is a goal for anyone, it is evident that various assistants and other tech innovations trigger more digital privacy concerns. 

A high percentage of private and business interactions are happening online. In addition to chatting with our friends, we take it a step further. After the COVID-19 outbreak, many companies realized that most of their operations could be carried out without their employees coming to the office. While this might help save some resources, the work-from-home model requires some attention. 

The average users might not understand all of the digital traces they leave behind every time they go online. In reality, digital community members are tracked by websites, ISPs, governments, and other entities. Hackers see us as targets as well. Besides completing the brutal hijackings of computers, crooks can use advanced tracking practices to gather users’ personal information. So, let’s discuss some of the prevalent news related to digital privacy.

California law changes

The state of California has established itself as one of the centers of all IT and tech-related things. The primary reason for this is that it’s home to Silicon Valley, which is the center of startup culture and tech innovation. Some of the most prominent companies seated in Silicon Valley are Google, Facebook, and Apple. 

Now, the fact that California passed its new data privacy law on January 1st is a big deal. According to the provided information, the law will allow customers to prevent companies from selling their personal information. In cases when a business does not respect users’ demands, clients will have the right to sue such companies for their inappropriate behavior. 

This law is being enforced from July 1st, 2020. Even though there are pressures from this industry to extend the preparatory period due to the pandemic, the state is moving forward. This might not only affect California: other states and countries may take California’s regulations and use them as a blueprint for their own.

Health-related apps due to COVID-19

With the pandemic still being a global threat, governments and health institutions are working on finding a solution to the problem. Why is data privacy an issue here? Well, our best bet in the fight against COVID-19 is contact tracing and testing. When it comes to contact tracing, the best tool is the smartphone. Practically everyone owns one, and the GPS and Bluetooth technology can be leveraged pretty elegantly. Google and Apple have made claims to collaborate in order to produce a foolproof contact tracing app. 

Still, the big question is: are we giving the government insights into every move we make and every interaction we have? Well, according to the developers, the answer is “no.” Some have a plan to delete the data once the crisis subsides. Others are claiming that data should be kept in anonymized form for further research. Questions about accountability, misuse, and other issues still stand. Such a solution might seem necessary during such grim times, but what exactly will be done with this valuable data after that?

The 2019 data privacy scandals

The things that keep putting data privacy in the public’s eye are data scandals that happen regularly. In 2019, the situation wasn’t any different. Here is a partial list of reported data breaches and the damage done:

• Marriott – 383 million guests’ passport numbers and credit card info
• Troy Hunt – 773 million users email addresses (+additional data)
• Facebook and Instagram – Hundreds of millions of passwords exposed
• American Medical Collection association – 20 million patients data exposed
• MoviePass – 160 million credit card user’s data exposed
• Metropolitan Police, banks and companies in the UK – 27.7 million biometric staff data exposed

This is just a summary of the major cases that happened. The smaller ones are too numerous to mention. Looking at these brands, we realize that even the top companies are not safe from data breaches. 

Best practices to protect yourself

While things may seem a bit desperate for regular folks and businesses that are not tech-savvy experts, we can protect ourselves. It all starts with our habits. First of all, don’t use your primary email for everything you do. You want your email to be used with only the systems that you are familiar with, and that won’t put it at risk. 

Also, avoid visiting shady websites. Consider repetitive pop-ups, redirects, and other irregularities as a sign that your device might be affected by malware. So, do not forget to use reliable antivirus tools that will secure your machines from various infections. In addition to that, choose a VPN that will protect your digital privacy by encrypting and encapsulating data. Even if hackers manage to steal your data during browsing, they won’t be able to use it for their benefits.