Data Privacy
Ongoing breaches have continued to dismantle the public trust. According to a Pew Internet and Society poll, 91% of Americans surveyed either agreed or strongly agree that consumers have lost control of their personal information and data. Whether it’s fear of a third party monitoring our mobile phone activity or concern about the safety of online transactions, people are increasingly concerned about their privacy, and they’re pointing the finger at business, not maleficent hackers. In 2015, businesses must not only work to meaningfully encrypt their data, but they must make a public showing of the measures they’re taking to safeguard our personal information. One new area of particular note in 2015: digital consent. Lawyers could soon use our personal data against us in court. Fitbit data, processed through a third-party analytics tool, was used in a courtroom late in 2014, around the same time that the FTC began investigating Fitbit’s practice of selling users’ personal data to advertisers. We will see growing demands for digital consent agreements and increased transparency.