In the News
Privacy is a buzzword these days, but what does it really mean to society? In People Are Concerned About Their Privacy in Theory, Not Practice, Says New Study, Erik Sherman at Fortune discusses a study from IBM’s Institute for Business Value regarding tech & privacy concerns. Sherman states that while most of those surveyed expressed a concern regarding the relationship between technology use and privacy, less than half of respondents alter their privacy settings on accounts and less than 20% are willing to leave a company in the event of data misuse.
Our Take
The reality of privacy concern in theory but not practice is evident. Take Facebook for example. The company has had multiple instances of data misuse, yet the majority of users have not canceled their accounts. Sure, there has been an uproar in the media regarding mistrust, transparency in data storage, and overall data misuse by tech firms. However, user actions have failed to change at the level required for corporate action to occur swiftly. If all users quit a company or platform in the wake of data misuse, higher privacy standards would be inevitable, but this is not the case. If society wants to prioritize data privacy, the concern needs to be implemented in practice. For starters, be proactive and secure your accounts through privacy settings, strong passwords, or multi-factor authentication, in addition to being mindful of what you share online.
Recommendations
How can you prioritize privacy and secure your accounts?
- Be aware of default settings on social media platforms that automatically back up photos, files, messages, and other potentially sensitive information to the Cloud.
- Take advantage of privacy settings when they are available
- Know your rights when it comes to data use and storage
- Refrain from sharing highly sensitive information through messaging apps and services
- Stay up to date on news covering recent breaches to see if you may have been affected