Tag Archives: privacy

Will Companies Be Ready for Europe’s General Data Protection Rule?

22 Jun

In the United States, consumer privacy rules are not as strong as they are in other areas of the world. Recently, the U.S. Congress voted to overturn a pending regulation that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to obtain people’s permission before selling their data about them. President Trump then signed the rollback.

As reported by NPR.org:

“The reversal is a victory for ISPs, which have argued that the regulation would put them at a disadvantage compared with so-called edge providers, like Google and Facebook. Those firms are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission and face less stringent requirements. ISPs collect huge amounts of data on the Web sites people visit, including medical, financial, and other personal information. The FCC regulation would have required ISPs to ask permission before selling that information to advertisers and others, a so-called opt-in provision.”

In contrast to the U.S. approach to privacy, Europe has a sweeping new regulation that will take effect in May 2018. It will have an impact on companies based anywhere, including the United States.

Brian Wallace, reporting for CMS Wire, describes the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR), thusly. Be sure to read the material highlighted:

“The European Parliament passed the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) in April 2016. The law is one of the most sweeping privacy laws protecting citizens ever to be put on the books, and is scheduled to take effect on May 25, 2018. One of the most misunderstood things about this law is that it covers EU citizen data, no matter which country the company using it is located. This means that any company in the world that stores EU citizen protected data has less than a year to come into compliance with the GDPR.“

According to the GDPR’s Web site, “The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy, and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy. The GDPR protects personal data and sensitive personal data. This includes: sensitive data: name, location, identification numbers, IP address, cookies, RFID info; and sensitive personal data: health data, genetic data, biometric data, racial or ethnic data, political opinions, and sexual orientation.“

 

Take a look at the following infographic from Digital Guardian to learn more! Click the image for a larger version.


 

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Bose Sued for Privacy Violations

30 May

We’ve posted many times about privacy issues (click here). But there’s a new lawsuit against Bose that could reshape the legal landscape for a number of companies. The video below is a good synopsis of the Bose matter.

Two questions for you: (1) Do you think Bose will modify its policies and negotiate a settlement before the case makes it to court? (2) If the case goes to trial, who do you think will prevail? GIVE US YOUR ANSWERS THROUGH A POST COMMENT.
 

 
 

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Do YOU Trust Companies with Your Personal Data?

20 Apr

We know that there have been incidents of stolen data around the world. These are involuntary hacks of our personal information. So, how do we feel about voluntarily sharing our information with companies? Many of us are rather reluctant to share more personal data due to concerns about identity theft, access to private information, and more.

As reported by eMarketer:

“A Pew Research Center report published in January 2017 found that only 14% of US consumers felt ‘very confident’ about entrusting companies/retailers with their data. Almost the exact same number said they were not at all confident.”

 

 

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Ransomware: A NOT So Humorous Look

15 Feb

As we’ve reported before, the ransomware threat has many negative effects. Ransomware “is malware. The hackers demand payment, often via Bitcoin or prepaid credit card, from victims in order to regain access to an infected device and the data stored on it.” [Ransomware: The Smart Person’s Guide, by James Sanders]

How pervasive is the threat of ransomware in our everyday lives? Check out this rather scary cartoon from Joy of Tech. It was inspired by the recently published Ransomware: Defending Against Digital Extortion by Allan Liska and Timothy Gallo! [Click the image for a larger version of the cartoon.]
 

 

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Can You Personalize Marketing without Shopper Participation?

16 Nov

One of the toughest issues for marketers to deal with in this high-tech world is how much to personalize their communication and offerings. On the one hand, marketers need as much customer information as possible to target individual shoppers more specifically. On the other hand, many customers want their privacy and do not appreciate it when they think they are overly tracked.

What do YOU think is the proper balance?

Here the thoughts on this subject by Louis Foong, the founder and CEO of ALEA Group Inc., (a B2B demand generation specialist):

“You want to give your prospects and customers a seamless, personalized, and sublime experience, and you know that you can’t do that without collecting their personal data. The trouble is, a lot of your customers don’t like the idea of sharing their information with you – what exactly are they so afraid of?”

“Findings by Boxever show that attitudes toward personalization and privacy are complex, and there are a few reasons why many of them are so against sharing their personal information with companies. The infographic below shows the trickiness of balancing privacy concerns and effective personalization.  Customers are also wary about receiving spam mail or offers that aren’t relevant to their interests. Only 14% of people say data collection through connected devices will improve their life.The other 86% either aren’t sure or don’t think it will improve their life.”

 
Here is the challenge.


 

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Secretly (?) Using LinkedIn for a Job Search

26 Oct

If you are currently employed and looking for confidentiality in a search for another job, you may have a tough task ahead of you — especially if you use LinkedIn during the search.

With this dilemma in mind, LinkedIn has recently introduced Open Candidates. As LinkedIn’s Dan Shapero writes:

“The secret to career happiness is finding a job you love, however there is no way to tell the world that you’re open to new opportunities without worrying about your employer finding out. But imagine if you could signal to recruiters everywhere that you’d like to hear from them, and by doing so increase your chances of having one of those magic moments when a recruiter reaches out with an amazing opportunity.”

“Introducing Open Candidates. Open Candidates is a new feature that makes it easier to connect with your dream job by privately signaling to recruiters that you’re open to new job opportunities. You can specify the types of companies and roles you are most interested in and be easily found by the hundreds of thousands of recruiters who use LinkedIn to find great professional talent. Open Candidates is accessible from the “Preferences” tab on the LinkedIn Jobs home page.”

Here’s a short video overview.

 

So, is this new service as good as it seems? Maybe! Consider these observations from Karissa Bell, writing for Mashable:

“When you opt in to the new feature, called Open Candidate, recruiters are able to see that you are interested in potential opportunities. At the same time, LinkedIn will do its best to block your information from appearing to recruiters at your company or its subsidiaries. When you opt in, you can select a few specifics about what type of job you would like, what city you want to work in, and write a short message to potential recruiters.”

“Though LinkedIn does its best to hide your information from recruiters at or affiliated with your company, Dan Shapero notes that they can’t guarantee that it won’t be seen. Still, he says that early testing of the feature has been successful on all sides: so-called ‘open candidates’ are more likely to be contacted by recruiters and recruiters are more likely to hear back from them.”

The bottom line: The likelihood of your new job search being confidential on LinkedIn depends on how active your current employer is on LinkedIn — and social networkers do communicate with one another. Working with recruiters OFF-line will still be more confidential.
 

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Public Wi-Fi: Popular, But Not Secure

20 Oct

Have you ever used free public Wi-Fi at the airport, Starbucks, Panera Bread, or other unsecured venues?  Is it safe from hacking, identity theft, and other invasions of privacy? No!! So, why do we use it?

According to Ian Barker, writing for Beta News:

“There’s an expectation that public Wi-Fi will be available pretty much everywhere we go these days. We access it almost without thinking about it, yet public networks rarely encrypt data leaving users vulnerable.”

“A new survey of more than 2,000 business users by networking company Xirrus finds that while 91 percent of respondents don’t believe public Wi-Fi is secure, 89 percent use it anyway. The report shows that 48 percent of Wi-Fi users connect to public Wi-Fi at least three times per week and 31 percent connect to public Wi-Fi every day.”

“When on public Wi-Fi, 83 percent of users access their E-mail, whether it’s for work or personal reasons, and 43 percent access work-specific information. ‘Today, the convenience of using public Wi-Fi, for a variety of work and recreational uses, supersedes security, which puts both individuals and businesses at risk. Most businesses do not offer secure connectivity options for customers and guests.’ says Shane Buckley, CEO of Xirrus.”

 

Take a look at the following infographic. Still think it’s a good idea to access private information via public Wi-Fi?


 

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