Introduction
In the 21st century, staying on top of Privacy law and Data Privacy Trends is more important than ever. Data privacy guides us on the part of details or information a customer is ready to share purposefully. An organization collecting personal data must ensure that it takes all necessary precautions to protect and preserve the data and no third party can access it. It is an increasing topic of scrutiny.
An individual has the right to control the personal information collected and used. To simplify, ‘Privacy’ implies preserving confidential data and matters within oneself. Generally, ‘Privacy’ suggests having dominion over one’s confidential information and collection methods while safeguarding it from interference or intrusion.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s data country-wise looks promising. 71% Countries with legislation, 9% with draft legislation, 15% with no legislation, and no data for the remaining 5% countries. No doubt there is a scope to achieve better numbers on this data, but it is tremendous progress compared over the years.
As consumers become more educated on their data privacy rights, they become more curious about what information companies keep with them and how their data is handled. After all, as social media platforms, virtual assistants, and engagement tracking tools continue to collect and refine our personal data, it’s only reasonable that we, as consumers, continue to evaluate how we think about data privacy.
In this article, we shall explore privacy law and the recent data privacy trends of 2022. Essential ingredients of threats, as well as safety precautions, are also discussed in this article.
Major Updates in Privacy Law and Data Privacy Trends the Globe
If you are an organization that handles and processes such data, the current environment can be miserable, with increasing GDPR penalties becoming the new normal. The 2020 Pandemic period has challenged organizations globally with the “Adapt-or-die” concept, pushing them forward to rapid digitalization and compliance with data privacy and security regulations. Governments worldwide require enterprises to comply with new or updated data privacy regulations.
In the GDPR enacted in 2018, the EU will add two new standard contractual clauses. The introduction and popularity of GDPR have forced authorities to reconsider their legislation and make improvements. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which gives California citizens the right to control their confidential data and information, is highly influenced by GDPR. At the beginning of this year, privacy bills have been active in many states of the USA. More legislation by other countries can be expected.
Data Privacy Threats for Companies
With more privacy regulations and rules, there will be more pressure on companies, who will be forced to pay a significant amount to hire and maintain data privacy officers and chief privacy officers. It means good business for individuals who already deal in data privacy and its compliance.
With ever-changing data protection laws, it’s important to comply and keep a check if your organization has the current laws, making it inevitable that you’ll need to hire a lawyer for implementation and compliance. Not sure if your company has data privacy laws in order? Browse our extensive list of LegaMart lawyers and get privacy compliant today!
Data Privacy Trends in 2022
As a consumer or an organization, you can expect to see these trends follow up this year concerning data privacy:
- A cookie-less future will be possible.
- Customers will mandate better management of their confidential information.
- GDPR will spark global data protection regulations.
The advantage of public awareness among social media users is that it will lead to corporate transparency. Increased knowledge among consumers means a huge rise in requests for the data subject. Financially, it will lead to more revenue since governing bodies will enforce more fines. Big brands will demand more from their third-party data vendors. More regulations will be introduced by countries, which will ensure higher investment in privacy technology. Authorities will be mandated to set a privacy-centric vision for their organizations.
Data Breaches in 2022
The pace at which corporations at all levels encounter cybersecurity violations is a cause for concern. Recently, high-profile invasions have targeted all niches, healthcare, economy, retail, administration, manufacturing, and power. The threat has matured immensely in recent times.
Analysts in the field are predicting that the rise in cybercrime is said to affect the global economy by $10.5 trillion in the next 3-4 years, which would amount to a 10-15% increase every year. Corporations have never been more helpless, and even enormous businesses with powerful cybersecurity protection can fall prey to such attacks.
Plex in August 2022: This year, there was news of a huge data breach into Plex, a media server app used by lakhs of individuals, which resulted in confidential, encrypted data of their consumers getting compromised; which included but was not limited to passwords, usernames, and emails ids. It was a shock to the whole industry to realize that millions of people’s confidential info being accessed can harm a brand’s trust built painstakingly over the years.
Ronin in April 2022: This incident revealed that crypto networks are not secure against a data breach. In April this year, Ronin reported that they were hacked for $540 Million. They not only lost that capital but also had to repay their customer.
On August 25th, 2022, Last Pass, a password management provider for over 25 million people, announced that a third party had been able to hack their network via a compromised developer account. A huge conglomerate such as Amazon was fined $886.6m (£636m) for violating EU data protection laws. Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection handed down the fine, stating that shipping and tech giant’s processing of personal data was not complying with the provisions of EU law.
How Can You Stay Safe and Stay Ahead in Terms of Data Privacy?
If you are an individual and a normal internet user, reset your passwords and enable multi-factor authentication. Again, this should be considered the typical practice to protect yourself against data breaches in 2022. If you are a corporate group, get a data privacy officer. The role of the data privacy officer is more about regulatory compliance than ensuring data privacy.
They deal in framing proper privacy policies and frameworks needed to run the company. The role of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) is to identify the personal data collected and stored by an organization and to follow a strict protocol to ensure that that data is protected. Under GDPR, there are some protocols that every company is required to comply with. Some of them are:
Data mapping: Collaboration is required in all business areas, IT, legal and management departments. A third party like a cloud service vendor or data archive in possession of personal data on behalf of an organization is required to comply with GDPR as well.
Comprehending the range of confidential information: It is crucial to determine the nature of confidential information and reserve only the required information. They should know the personal data they are storing and its legal obligations.
Obtaining the consent of consumers: Under GDPR policies, all organizations must obtain consent from a consumer to reserve or transmit their confidential information. It gives the power to the consumers to know how their data is collected, stored, and used. They can also request for deletion of their data if they are not confident in how their data is being used. Under GDPR, there are six legal grounds for processing confidential data: Consent, legal obligations, vital interest, legitimate interest, and public task.
Monitoring data transfer: Corporations must take every possible step to prevent unauthorized access to personal data.
Conclusion
With evolving laws, awareness among the public, and discussions on data and its ownership, it is evident that the privacy landscape will probably look very diverse in the future. We all agree that consumers control their data and how it is used and processed.
Privacy talks won’t cease anytime soon. Despite the rise in regulations and proceedings against big organizations such as Amazon, many businesses are not taking this seriously, leaving the ordinary consumer vulnerable to such attacks.
There may be a rise in consumers’ voices against such giants, but they do not impact such organizations in any way. Unfortunately, there is not a large enough mass of consumers who could get together to put economic pain on a company to force it to change its behavior.
The convenience of using Google and shopping on Amazon or BestBuy far outweighs the data privacy risks people perceive. The amount of data over the cloud as well as on-site is astonishing. The power to request, update, and delete data is now in the hands of consumers rather than big companies. Who knows what will the future of privacy be like?
