In this day and age. The concept of data privacy is no longer a distant thought. Instead, it is the need of the hour and an emerging field of specialisation where professionals and players from different areas of expertise are now practising in this field.
This blog aims to give you an overview of data privacy from an organisation’s point of view and how organisations can build a strong privacy culture and ecosystem altogether. But before that, let us take a few minutes to understand the importance of data privacy.
Have you ever wondered how these big tech giants and other businesses come up with innovations and, more importantly, how they can determine the needs and want of the people from time to time?
From the moment we turn on our wifi or the internet to watching our favourite YouTubers’ videos to even surfing on Google and making payments online, whatever we do on the internet, we create and leave behind our digital footprints in the form of data (personal & non-personal).
Tech companies and other industries feed on this data, which helps them improve their products and services to enhance user experience. In other words, we can put this as they provide our data to sell their products and services to us, and they earn huge profits from that. That’s one of the reasons why regulating this area is needed. Many countries have already implemented their data protection regime, which is applicable inside their national territory and even outside their jurisdiction; on the other hand, India has been working on its data protection law for almost 5 years now.
Let’s talk about some facts from the year 2021 which might blow your mind-
But why should you care after all? These attacks and breaches were reported just in one year, and from individuals to corporations and even the government lost tons of money because of such incidents. Hence, protecting the data means protecting the economy of a country.
Data Privacy was never a hype, and now it has become a global issue. How come? Because of the constant warfare in digital/cyberspace. Surprisingly, the right to privacy extends and covers our digital privacy and is even recognised as a fundamental right in many countries.
More than just causing an adverse monetary effect on the economy, it is also a matter of the organisations and businesses’ reputations and maintaining the general public’s trust.
It is the sole responsibility of every business and organisation to take necessary safety measures to protect our data and promote the digital privacy of every individual. Why? Because they are the ones involved in the collection, sharing, and processing of our data. Regulations such as the European Union’s GDPR and California’s CCPA are examples of data protection laws around the globe. Wherever there is an active data protection law working, businesses and organisations would have to comply, and non-compliance to any of the provisions would lead to strict penalties. But how can these organisations and companies fulfil their obligations by complying with the respective data protection laws and still contribute to society through innovations and development?
The only way left with businesses and organisations is by complying with the respective data protection laws governing that State/Province/Country. Since these laws are new and evolving, which makes it more burdensome for organisations and businesses to be fully aware of the changes and amendments all the time, that is why appointing a data protection officer in every organisation and business is a good approach and also is mandated by the law. But will this solve the problem? Not really. Data protection is not just the responsibility of the data protection officer. Instead, it should run inside every department, and every employee must be a part of this process.
From the above discussion, one can understand that creating a privacy culture is a new concept that is generally an acquired behaviour of individuals, businesses and organisations. At the same time, firms/organisations are working upon it diligently due to the constant fear of cyber-attacks and data breaches. This is the age of digitisation, wherein privacy is the core element, and without it, the economy of any nation would be at high risk and suffer as privacy issues impact the ongoing innovation and development of the country.
Tsaaro Academy is a unique privacy certification training platform that strives to provide operational leadership, training, network and support in data privacy.
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