5 Reasons why the government is worried about your privacy
It’s been a year since the governments from all around the world started thinking about the problems created by social media networks and tech giants like Google, Apple, etc. Interestingly, the governments had to interfere with the serious level of interactions with the CEO’s of social media giants to get explanations at a deeper level.
But there are reasons, why these governments and officials are worried about data privacy and regulations.
#1 Data is not the future
Everybody thinks that data is the future of business and the future of marketing, but data is actually the “present”. Majority of the startups and well-established companies are consistently collecting data from users to make sure they get enough insights from such data for their marketing purposes and predict the purchase behavior.
Facebook as a social media company has all kinds of data about a human being which could even predict their future and behavior as well. Intense machine learning algorithms and deep learning techniques have proved that data is the fuel of highly accurate predictions.
That’s why you see the ads about products that make sense to you. It’s not “random ads”, they are “Interest-based ads” predicted from your interaction with websites and content.
#2 Out of Government
People are more interested in signing up on a new game on Facebook than voting for a new election candidate. If the government stops worrying about data which the companies like Facebook and Google hold, then there is a huge threat.
Imagine the truth, “The social media giants have more control over the people than the government”. In fact, Facebook has played a major role in forming the government itself.
The most famous “Cambridge Analytica Scandal” is one of the scariest examples of how your data is being used to manipulate your thoughts using fake news and content.
#3 Literacy or Awareness
Not every citizen has a clear idea about data and why it is important to protect their data. Moreover, the users have no idea about how their data is being used to sell ads and make predictions.
It’s pretty clear that if all the users are literate about data privacy, almost 80% of them would stop using such social media websites on a daily basis. The stocks will crash and the slow death of social media will begin.
Have you ever wondered, why these giants don’t charge a dime while they have amazing offices and world’s best employees with a huge payroll? Now you know how to think (wink, wink).
#4 To Measure Damage
Recently, the Senate has asked tech giants with over 100 million users to put a monetary value for their customer’s data. There are multiple positive intentions behind it, but one of the most interesting intentions is to figure out the “value of damage”.
If the brands misutilise or break the violation of a privacy policy, the user can go to the court and ask for a solution, but the government can only come to an accurate “damage calculation” when there is a proper monetary value assigned to a user’s data.
When damage occurs to a wide range of customers like a data breach, the government can calculate the damage and fine the companies respectively.
#5 Art of Law Making
Lawmaking is a consistently evolving process which requires intense attention to detail about how the new law or regulation is impacting both the businesses and the consumer.
Better lawmaking can be done with proper interaction with business owners and by analyzing the public problems. A good regulation happens when the businesses and consumers requirement meet at a fair point where both the parties are satisfied. No government can come to that point without being worried about the existing problem which is “data privacy”.
Bottom Line
If you’re illiterate about data, this article might sound like a bomb blasting within your head, but it’s nothing but a fact that companies are utilizing data for such practices and the governments have no other option other than choosing the path of making regulations to protect their citizens.
