Even given the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, Mark Zuckerberg just announced that the social media platform won’t apply the stringent new European data privacy law regulations globally — for now, at least. Francis Dinha, CEO and Co-Founder at OpenVPN commented below.
Francis Dinha, CEO and Co-Founder at OpenVPN:
“As a CEO, I understand Zuckerberg’s hesitation to immediately accept the GDPR. At this point, no one knows how the regulation will impact their business. For a company like Facebook, the regulation will likely impact revenue as advertising may be more limited due to personal data restrictions. However, looking at it from the consumer perspective, the GPR increases data privacy and gives them more control over how their data is used. While it’s a good start, it’s not enough to provide full data protection.
With high profile hacks happening on a recurring basis, consumers are more aware and concerns about cyber and data security. After the recent Cambridge Analytica fallout at Facebook, consumers more so than ever are questioning what exactly corporations are doing with their personal information, and it’s encouraging them to take a proactive role in protecting their data.
The most common misconceptions around data privacy are users feeling as if they have nothing to hide, so data privacy does not apply to them, and that they don’t care if companies use their data. These are two misconceptions that need to be gone away with, and it starts with a shift in consumer mindset. Consumers need to be aware and take notice of when they’re accessing public cloud services without protection, especially when accessing bank information or supplying your credit card to an online merchant. When you’re using an unprotected connection, your data is in transit when accessing any web service and might be compromised by cybercriminals.”
