The scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica and the recent change of the data protection legislation (RGPD), have led to the awakening of our consciences in terms of privacy and control of our data.
It’s not something new, we’ve been hearing complaints about “ads that know what you’re looking for and that they’re after you”, problems in social networks because they do not have a criterion about which content to share (which in some cases has caused great damage) #Canadian Consumer Email List cases are numerous.
In my opinion, the root problem lies in ourselves. Internet has evolved at great speed and we have not had time to take the consequences. Everything is going so fast, and many times we are so comfortable, that we prefer to “click” before thinking about what we are doing.
We tend to blame third parties: Facebook such, Google what, etc. And yes, it is possible that on more than one occasion they have crossed the line, but in the end the responsibility for our privacy on the Internet is ours.
We are the ones who decided to accept without reading the conditions of the service, those who prefer to connect with our Facebook account to a website, those who install applications and give them access permission for “everything”, etc. and those who share things in public without thinking about the consequences.
We need to be able to easily control what, with whom, how and when we share our data
I am totally in favor of an Internet use that allows us to have total control over the data we share. But this would be useless if we as users do not commit ourselves to be more responsible.
I think both scenarios are a matter of time.
As with many technology adoption processes, we are bumping up and down, going from one extreme to the other.
The fight for the privacy of our data will be expensive … to all
Why do I say that it will cost us all? Let me explain.
On the one hand, companies. According to a study carried out in December 2017 by Accenture in the United States, 44% of respondents (worldwide) felt frustrated when webs / online services were not able to offer a personalized service and on the other hand, 49% I was worried about the use of their data when subscribing to a website or services designed to offer them a personalized experience that anticipates their needs.
On the one hand, we want a personalized service, but on the other hand we are afraid to share our data because we do not know or we do not understand well what will happen with this information.
Problems partly caused by lack of transparency of these services and partly due to our ignorance.
It is estimated that the lack of personalization and confidence in the companies, generated a loss of 756 billion dollars (only in the United States) in 2017. Since these problems caused 41% of respondents to change company.
If we take into account that this study was carried out before the scandal of Cambrigde Analytica and the change of legislation of the RGPD, we can imagine the magnitude of the problem for companies today.
