The Three Types of Digital Privacy You Need to be Aware of

 

When we talk about digital privacy, we refer to the rights of customers and consumers who use various e-services. In the admittedly broad field of e-services, we are talking about social media websites, e-shops, video aggregator websites, and any other website you might be thinking about using or already using. 

The goal of digital privacy advocates is to get companies to desist from collecting or brokering any private information or data from their user base. Recently, cybercrimes like hacking have significantly spiked. Identity theft has become a rather large issue. The goal of digital data privacy acts and advocates is to minimize the damage caused by cybercriminals, and ensure that the privacy of consumers is respected. 

When talking about digital privacy, there are a three categories to consider. These are communication privacy, information privacy, and personal privacy. So, let us take a look at these three categories, and briefly describe what they mean.

Individual Privacy

The first one we are looking at is individual privacy, which refers to the idea that individuals should be able to use the internet without being interrupted by unwanted information. Let’s take an example we can all relate to. How many times have you been using a website, and your time on it has been interrupted by pop-up ads? The notion behind individual privacy dictates that you, or anyone else, should not have to be exposed to these types of interruption. This category also deals with spam mail, computer viruses, or any similar kind of situation. 

Communication Privacy

In the context of digital data privacy, communication privacy refers to the expectation that the information one communicates will only be received by the intended recipient. Sadly, this is not always the case. A lot of communications can and are intercepted, and shared among other recipients. Worse yet, this is all done without the original user’s knowledge. 

The goal of communication privacy advocates is to minimize the amount of communication interception, and eventually eliminate it fully. At the very least, transparency should be a must. We all should have the right to communicate with friends, loved ones, or family, without anyone using the data for their own personal gain. 

Information Privacy

Finally, we get to the big one. Information privacy is a term used in regards to how digital information should be collected. In a TEDxTalks lecture, Fred Cate talks about data privacy and consent. He brings up a troubling statistic, that 50 trillion personal data transactions are done annually, by companies you’ve never even heard of. 

In order to combat this kind of violation of privacy, the EU has issued several privacy laws. And if you want to benefit from these laws, the Incogni website can help you out. What they’ll do is, they will contact data brokers who are holding on to your data, and request that it be removed, citing the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation act in the process. 

Conclusion 

In 2023, we are all online frequently. In other words, it is now more important than ever to keep our information private. And we can only do that by familiarizing ourselves with the laws and regulations that exist to keep data brokers in check.

Cyber-Security Technology