Don’t Just Rely On Data Privacy Laws to Protect Information

Data privacy laws are evolving to allow individuals the opportunity to understand the types of data that companies are collecting about them and to provide ways to access or delete the data. The goals of data privacy law are to give some control of the data back to the individual, and to provide a transparent view on the collecting and safeguarding of that data. Prior to the GDPR and CCPA, it was difficult to understand what was being collected and how it was being used. Was the website selling your information to other companies? Who knows, but chances are they were. We’ve all heard the line: “If it’s free, then you’re the product.” Also, paying for a service is no guarantee that your information is not being sold. Data privacy laws attempt to address these problems by requiring companies to obtain affirmative consent from individuals, explain what is being collected and define the purpose for its use.