It is no secret that in today’s day and age, we spend a lot of our time online. Social media and the internet have become incredibly common, and people use the internet for every aspect of their lives. As a result, society has had to reimagine online data privacy and how to best enforce it. You may be surprised by just how many privacy laws there are, and how even laws and acts that seem unconnected can be used to protect your online data.
In this article, we will discuss how individuals online are impacted by privacy laws and the conversation around data collection.
Privacy Laws That Impact Users
Since we are discovering more about living in the digital age, many privacy laws are recent. This is the case for the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation, a move by the EU that was implemented in 2016. The GDPR is meant to enhance the control that a person has over their online data as long as it does not pertain to law enforcement or national security. The biggest factor in this law is informed consent; within the consent of a user, personal data collection is not allowed.
Most people are familiar with HIPAA - the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA protects personal healthcare information and prevents the information from being shared with anyone who is not the patient or their representative. This famous protection of personal information is the same concept used in online data privacy.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) has been in effect in the United States since 1970 and helps protect consumer information that is held in reports by consumer reporting agencies. The FCRA and HIPAA are good examples of privacy laws that were enacted before the digital age but still translate to online data privacy - even if your health and credit information moves online, it must still be protected.
Oftentimes, medical or credit information may seem to only apply to adults. However, more and more children are engaging in online activity and need their data protected. Laws like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection App (COPPA) enacted in 2000 are meant to protect the online data of children under 13 years of age.
Consent and Data Collection
As you can tell, there are actually quite a few laws enacted for online privacy that impact internet users. But if there are so many, why does it seem like more and more privacy concerns are popping up?
The short answer is that online data cannot be collected without consent. Unfortunately, many people are unaware when data is even being taken or how to withdraw their consent. That is the thought process behind new innovations like Apple 14.5, which includes App Tracking Transparency that allows you to authorize which apps can use your personal information.
Look at the apps and websites you visit frequently and research how much personal data they use. Your consent is always needed to collect online data, so make sure to study up!
Cyder Promotes Privacy Education and Incentivizes Consent.
Our number one goal at Cyder is to provide members control of their data. That begins with understanding the rights they have to owning data. Due to the laws mentioned above individuals are gaining the legal right to dictate how their data is collected and who is allowed to see it. Cyder offers the option to pay individuals for consenting to sell their data. This way individuals are properly compensated for their assets. Cyder asks up front for consent and compensates members for their data. By consenting to Cyder it allows us to collect and broker data transactions while also providing protection from unwanted third parties.
Cyder comes in at a time where organizations that require ethically sourced data are struggling to gain consent from users. With Cyder the individual can control their data and the organization can continue to fuel their data analytics platforms.
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