Data Privacy is an animal that needs to be tamed over time and over & over again: Experts

The increasing transition to digital, largely fuelled by the pandemic, has brought to the fore serious questions regarding how safe is our information and data in the digital ecosystem. There are growing concerns over how we are losing control on our own data. We no longer know who is tracking our digital footprints, or listening in to our private conversations, or accessing what we believe are private chats with friends and families, and even more alarmingly, tracking all our digital transactions.

The recent row over Whatsapp’s announcement regarding changes in its privacy policy has netizens worried. So much so that there have been mass transition to competitors like Signal and Telegram. These two apps have claimed tremendous increase in traffic in the last few days.

The question that arises here, how much data security can Signal and Telegram ensure? We have seen data breaches happening in even the most secure of platforms. A lot of time we ourselves knowingly – and sometimes unknowingly – share our personal data. Every time we use any website, cookies track everything that we access; e-commerce websites store our transaction details, including debit/ credit card details; financial institutions have access to all our financial dealings; with everything now inter-linked – from PAN card details, Aadhaar details, driving licence, passport and now we also have digital voters ID cards – we really are living in a perilous world.

We have increasingly started storing our data and info on cloud-based services, but they have also not been impervious to cyber attacks.

So, is data privacy really an illusion? Experts have time and again pointed out how encryption is fundamentally flawed. Moreover, unlike the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that governs Europe, the data protection laws are at a very nascent stage in India. All eyes are on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which will be tabled in Parliament in February 2021. However, here too concerns have been voiced about how this Bill could give the Government overall powers to access the data of all Indian citizens.

Adgully brought together all the debates, concerns, details regarding the data protection and privacy scenario in the country and discussed threadbare the solutions in a special Webinar – ‘Is Data Privacy An Illusion?’ – on January 28, 2021.

Joining in the conversation were:

Hemali Dave, Head of Revenue growth, Zirca Digital Solutions (Moderator)

Surbhit Jain, Manager-Product Marketing, APAC, Adobe Experience Cloud & Platform

Tanay Kumar, CEO, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Fractal Ink Design Studio linked by Isobar

Dimpy Yadav, Head of Client Engagement, Xaxis India

Kaushal Mahan, Group Business Director, Chase India

Commencing the discussions, Hemali Dave asked the panellists about their views on the data privacy and security ecosystem today, especially in light of the entire controversy arising out of WhatsApp recently announcing its decision to update its Privacy Policy.

Before delving into the topic, Kaushal Mahan first established a context to the data privacy issue and noted that today data has become like capital and benefits businesses, and added that one needs to know how to use data and protect it.

Mahan further said, “Governments globally have understood the value of data in fuelling their digital economies and that’s why businesses have been focused on India and China as markets due to the potential of data and user group. This data helps improve product quality.” 

With respect to data privacy, Mahan pointed out that there were two topics of discussions right now – protecting personal data and personal data. He added, “Governments have understood that if data isn’t protected, it can create a non-price competition market.” 

Giving his perspective on the WhatsApp controversy, Mahan pointed out that the pandemic has increased digital literacy amongst users and businesses like WhatsApp should work with the Government when it comes to data privacy laws and updates. “You can’t have different laws for different countries, a certain standardisation needs to be maintained. By the year 2022, there should be more groundwork by the Government on the issue of data privacy,” he added. 

So, is data privacy just an illusion?

Surbhit Jain here stressed on the need for a framework to be established for businesses to function with data within. “There is need for laws to be established for everyone in the digital sector to follow,” he added. Jain also highlighted the growth in digital literacy amongst the people and the questioning attitude that’s being developed.

According to Jain, for any business to function at an optimum level in any market, trust is a big factor. In most cases, users won’t even share data if there’s a trust issue and the recent controversies of Whatsapp and Facebook have further ignited the mistrust amongst people. “With an established framework, businesses will find it easier to function within that framework and it will also help them gain the trust of users,” he added.

Giving the perspective of the audiences regarding data privacy, Tanay Kumar noted that there are mainly three kinds of audiences when it comes to data privacy. One set is those people who don’t believe that their data can be breached. The second set is those people who are well read on the matter and take necessary precautions, and third is that set that is completely unaware of this growing concern.

Kumar felt that the issue of data privacy is always going to stay and that it’s a ‘grey’ area. “There is no sure-shot method to say that, ‘yes! My data is safe’. This issue is an animal that needs to be tamed over time and over and over again,” he emphasised.

The conversation then moved on to the topic of the checks and balances that are to be kept in mind by companies when dealing with data privacy. Dimpy Yadav noted that there are a few data policies in place and businesses today are more concerned about the privacy of their users’ data than ever before. “Many are taking users’ consent when they visit a website and they are also using platforms like CDP to ensure they are storing data in a well-protected manner,” she added.

On whether these measures were enough, Yadav said that many businesses still did not have privacy floors on their data strategy and brands today cannot afford to take privacy lightly. Adding further, she said, “More devices like Voice AI make data privacy an even more difficult situation to handle. Today, brands have more data than ever before and there is a definite need for data governance. Apart from using the right CDPs and platforms, it is also important to have the right data engineers who hold the right expertise to manage and store this data efficiently.”

Yadav stressed on the importance of adding ‘Identity Access Management’. Elaborating on this, she said, “This means you allow relevant teams to access only limited data that is required by them. Many pass on data in Excel files on mail, which is still not an ethical way of doing it. It is important to automate the usage of this data with the right technology and inject the data directly into platform using DSPs, which will mean the reduction of manual processes which is actually a breach of policy all together.”

Click here to catch the complete conversation as the industry experts take a further deep dive into the issue of data privacy and security.