As medical records are increasingly digitized and genetic sequencing becomes faster and cheaper, threats to our privacy and autonomy intensify. All too often, the deployment of new technologies happens faster than our social, political, educational, or legal systems can react, producing a "land rush" in which companies and government agencies deploy new privacy-invasive technologies before subjects are aware that they exist—and certainly before we have consented to their use through our democratic political system.
In recent decades, the private sector has learned that personal information is a valuable commodity, giving companies a strong incentive to collect as much data as they can about all of us. In the absence of regulatory restrictions, this trend will only intensify, which threatens to create new opportunities for corporate manipulation and control of individuals, to accentuate the advantages and disadvantages experienced by different groups, and to generally shift power from individuals to powerful companies.
Many of the basic rights we take for granted are not protected when we go to work. The ACLU continues to fight for employee privacy by challenging how those rights are violated by employers through workplace surveillance, unwarranted drug testing, and "lifestyle discrimination. For several decades now, proposals to establish a national identification system have periodically arisen. The ACLU works to expand the right to privacy, increase the control individuals have over their personal information, and ensure civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by technological innovation.
What's at Stake. California Technological innovation has outpaced our privacy protections. Fourth Amendment The government argues that the Fourth Amendment protects information that you keep in your desk, but not information that you keep online, like old emails or pictures.
National Security Agency In order to carry out mass surveillance, the NSA has weakened the security of the communications systems that we all rely on. Take Action. Data companies, realizing where things were going, rolled out more privacy options to quell user fears and show that they were capable of regulating themselves. And seemingly everyone was disturbed by revelations that a company called Clearview AI scraped the internet for billions of public images to populate its facial recognition database, then tried to sell the service to law enforcement and private companies.
Then the pandemic hit, and Congress had more pressing concerns. At the same time, people needed the services that collect and use their data to carry out most aspects of their daily lives. Essentially, anything you do that uses the internet is likely collecting your data in some way, and many of those services are monetizing it one way or another. Some may not have been willing to trade their privacy for those services before. Now they had to. When stores closed and people were afraid to leave their homes, consumers turned to online shopping for groceries and other necessities.
Restaurant delivery apps boomed as many restaurants went bust. Streaming services had a great year except Quibi , taking the place of movie theaters and most other forms of entertainment. School and work also moved online. Accordingly, employers turned to worker tracking software and schools turned to online proctoring services to monitor their employees and students from afar.
Zoombombing was easy and frequent, subjecting users to images of pornography and racism in the middle of their math classes and town meetings.
It also sent user data to Facebook and LinkedIn. Telehealth expanded significantly during the pandemic, offering patients a way to see their health care providers without having to risk visiting a physical office. Not only did people integrate more data collection and information exposure into their daily lives, but they were also told that this tracking could have public health benefits. As the vaccine rolls out, we may yet see those immunity passports , and companies are lining up to offer health verification programs to airports, offices, and concert venues.
Neither will the Trump White House. Digital contact tracing tools were initially seen as a possible savior , but adoption rates have been low. Over the summer, the George Floyd protests put a spotlight on how police abuse their power, including using surveillance technology like facial recognition.
Some companies stopped working with law enforcement at the height of anti-police sentiment, though how long those moratoriums last remains to be seen. Some cities and states put forward measures and laws prohibiting their use.
Multiple reports have detailed how police simply purchase location data from data brokers instead of bothering with a warrant. Some lawmakers have pushed for regulations to stop this, and the subsequent discovery that some of this data came from a Muslim prayer app caused a great deal of outcry.
That data was obtained by X-Mode, one of the many data location companies that promoted itself as a tool to fight the coronavirus earlier this year. While some lawmakers did continue to sound the alarm about privacy throughout the year, especially with regard to issues raised by the pandemic, the focus on how to regulate the internet seems to have shifted away from privacy laws and toward curbing the power wielded by Big Tech companies.
Generally, the left and the right have differing ideas of how to do this. Democrats are looking at using antitrust laws to break the companies up, while Republicans hope to take away immunity protections that allowed those companies and the internet as a whole to prosper.
Many Republicans have recently taken up the cause of repealing Section to fight what they see as a greater or more immediate Big Tech evil: censorship of conservative voices by too-powerful and liberal companies. Both sides have their issues with Section , but Republicans — encouraged by President Trump — have made it their rallying cry.
If you want to discuss your data privacy requirements, give us a call today. We have previously written about how businesses can ensure data security, and because of the link between data security and data privacy our advice there will also help you to ensure the privacy of the data you hold as a business. That said, there are a number of easy steps you can take that can improve the privacy of your data.
A good first step is to familiarize yourself with the privacy tools that are available. This means at minimum a VPN to encrypt your internet connection, and a password manager to improve the security of your online accounts. To achieve data privacy nirvana, organizations need a data security solution that protects enterprise data, prevents data breaches, reduces risk, and helps achieve compliance. At Varonis, our approach to data security as it relates to enhancing data privacy includes:.
If you want to achieve least privilege and compliance faster, the Automation Engine helps you get there — so that you can automatically remediate global access and fix file system permissions. Love it or hate it, compliance requirements hold a baseline that enforces data privacy goals to sustain freedom, intimacy, and solitude.
Ultimately, knowing that your data is always safe and secure also ensures data privacy. Data privacy has become a mainstream concern over the past year, and coverage of the issue has appeared in all the major newspapers.
This law represents the strongest data privacy protections in the USA at the moment, and companies have been preparing to implement it for years.
The key question is whether this kind of law can eventually be applied across the country. Though this data exchange was completely legal, it has given people a renewed awareness of just how much personal data they are sharing, and how it is being processed. In news from further afield, India is now passing national legislation to control what companies can do with personal data. Even after all that information, you might still have some questions about data privacy. A: No.
Data privacy laws are relatively new in any case, and there is no worldwide standard. Different laws will apply to your business depending on your sector and location, so make sure you check your responsibilities. A: Again, because of the fragmentary nature of data privacy laws, it can be extremely difficult to ensure the security of your data if you send it abroad.
Choose the correct cloud provider. In truth, most companies will not have the time or resources to employ a dedicated cloud security specialist. The best solution for most will, therefore, be to choose a cloud provider who also provides you with security features, and who can advise you about your legal responsibilities. Data privacy is important for a number of reasons. Privacy is, after all, a fundamental right.
As a company, data privacy is arguable even more important. You may have to meet legal responsibilities about how you collect, store, and process personal data, and non-compliance could lead to a hefty fine.
If you fall victim to a hack, the consequences in terms of lost revenue and lost customer trust could be even worse. DatAdvantage and DataPrivilege ensure that only those people who should have access to your data do, and so you can work toward data privacy compliance easily and effectively. Researching and writing about data security is his dream job.
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