In the digital age, one of the key concerns of users is privacy. Personal data circulation on the Internet has given rise to phenomena like spam and phishing, which can put users’ personal information at danger. As a result, we’ll discuss digital privacy and how to safeguard it in this post.
What is the definition of digital privacy?
On the internet, a vast volume of data, including user personal information, circulates. We leave personal information that leaves a trace on the network by performing basic things like using a browser, sharing a photo on a social network, or leaving a comment on a blog or forum.
Therefore, it is very important to know what digital privacy is and how to increase the security of our data on the Internet. A person’s right to privacy at home or at work is the same as their right to prohibit others from accessing their personal data online without their consent.
Because it is tied to the existence and growth of the Internet and telecommunications, the concept of digital privacy is relatively new. In reality, there was no clear regulation in this area until recently.
Digital privacy characteristics
Digital privacy is defined by a series of characteristics:
· It refers to all of a user’s information that is shared on the internet. In addition to personal information such as name, ID, phone number, and address.
· Because of the unique characteristics of the internet, privacy also relates to photographs, videos, email, geolocation, browser history, IP addresses, and any other data that allows a person to be identified on the network.
· It encompasses not only the use of web pages and social media sites, but also the transmission of data through online stores, applications, and instant messaging services, among other things.
Identity in the digital world
A person’s digital identity, often known as their digital footprint, is described as the digital trail they leave behind on the internet. Almost every activity taken on the internet leaves a trail, whether it’s uploading a photo, writing on a blog, or making comments on a website.
It is related to digital privacy, which assists users with the aim of safeguarding the information they want to keep private, out of the reach of the Internet. The legislation stipulates that the individual must have control over the personal data that circulates over the network, which leads us to the next point.
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Having the right to be forgotten
The user has the right to have information removed from the internet that he does not want other users to see. On the internet, this is known as the right to be forgotten. Its removal is required because it contains old, irrelevant, or excessive information, regardless of whether it was true at the time.
For example, a person may appear on Google as the perpetrator of a long-ago crime for which he has already paid and received complete restitution. Because that information could be harmful to him, such as in the job market, he has the right to exercise it.
How to ensure cybersecurity?
The most safe method of saving credentials is to use a password manager. All keys are stored in an encrypted format and may only be accessed with the master password. Keeping all of this in mind will make protecting your credentials from malicious third parties much easier.
A password manager is a software program that stores and manages a user’s passwords for different online accounts and security features. With the help of a master password, password managers store passwords in an encrypted manner and give secure access to all password information.
Password managers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with different encryption methods, storage options, and additional functions.
Service providers of the internet
Service providers, for their part, must give users with equal access to the network. They must also ensure that network access is conducted in the strictest of security settings.
While data collecting and, as a result, the creation of a privacy policy are easily justified for an online store, the situation is different when it comes to other types of services. Every minute, data such as IP addresses that web servers retain in log files, personal data and cookies that store information about users and their browsing patterns is collected and kept automatically.
Website analytics programs such as Google Analytics, which are responsible for recording web traffic, are another contentious subject. The IP addresses of users are stored on servers in the United States, making this Google service particularly troublesome in terms of data protection standards.
To lessen the severity of the problem, web page administrators can decrease an IP address to the final few digits, removing any link to personal information.
Speaking more of terms and concrete, these would be some of the main risks of digital privacy:
1. Phishing is a method of computer abuse that consists of fraudulently obtaining confidential information to impersonate a user’s identity.
2. Spam is defined as the massive reception of unwanted emails.
3. Viruses and Trojans are programs that sneak into the user’s computer to carry out unrequested actions: information theft, data deletion, etc. They can be camouflaged within apparently harmless programs or applications.
4. The use of the internet or social media to threaten, harass, or blackmail someone is known as cyberbullying or virtual harassment.
What should a privacy policy include?
In theory, before beginning any type of activity, every online administrator should tell their users about the gathering and protection of their data and personal information. Because it’s a little complicated in practice, it’s typical for users to be notified at the same moment their data is being collected. The privacy policy must be clear and available from any website, which necessitates the creation of a single page dedicated solely to this purpose.
Similarly, the text must be exact, precise, and straightforward, avoiding, for example, the use of very technical or legally complex phrases. You can create a privacy policy in multiple languages depending on the profile of your clients or the group of users on your website so that it is readily accessible to visitors who do not understand English.
