Data privacy: A new challenge to society in the digital Era

Abstract

Technological Innovation has increased the usage of internet across the globe. In the digital era, everyone lives connected with technology and various organizations are constantly collecting our personal information with or without our consent through internet. This information, including our financial transactions, health records, shopping preference and all other online activities are valuable and vulnerable. Protection of data and data privacy remains a major issue, as we navigate the digital landscape. So, it becomes important to understand how to protect our information from privacy breaches and cyber threats. This article discusses the data privacy, major challenges to data privacy and possible ways of protecting the personal data.

Introduction

Data Privacy has become increasingly important in our modern digital age. With the huge amount of personal information being share and stored online, it is important to understand the concepts of data privacy. Let explore its importance in society, the legal framework, examine the challenges it face, and look towards the future of privacy

What is Data privacy?

Data privacy refers to the protection of Personal information, where individuals have control over how their dataIs collected, processed, stored, and shared. It is the right of individuals to keep personal information private and secure, limitingUnauthorized access or use by others.

“Data privacy” usually refers to the handling of personal identifiable information such as social security number, health records, and financial data including bank account details, and credit card number. In the business context, data privacy exceeds personal identifiable informationincluding proprietary research, development data and financial information. (Rossevel, 2023)

Data privacy is a fundamental right that has gained notable attention in the digital era. With the rapid advancement of technological innovation and the widespread use of Internet, individuals are constantly generating and sharing vast amount of personal data across the globe. This data includes everything from online shopping, social media posts to medical records and financial information. The criminal can used these data for cyber crimes such as online harassing, cyber bullying, and cyberstalking.

Some of the major aspects of data privacy are

• Personal data –any information related to individual identity such as name, address, phone number, email address, social security number, health records and internet browsing history.
• Collection of data –how is data collected? Whether it’s done with individual consent? Is it the data collected was transparent? whether the purpose was known by the individual?
• Use of data – how does the data used? Is it use for the purpose it was collected? Is data shared to third parties was with or without consent of individual?
• Disclosure –are they appropriate measures were taken against the authorized access?
• Controls – do there authorized to access, correct or delete the collected data?

Why data privacy is so important in digital world?

Data privacy plays important role in maintaining a free and democratic society. It allows individuals to express own thoughts, beliefs, and opinion without fear. It promotes a free exchange of ideas and a sense of trust in the digital landscape. Some of important aspects of data privacy are

• To protect the personal identifiable information against theft and fraud.
• Protection against Discrimination based on race, religion and political belief that leads to instability of social and political ecosystem.
• To have transparency and accountability of individual personal information
• To protect individual privacy, while fostering data driven innovation that can lead to the development of naval technologies and services benefitting society as a whole.
• Protection against government surveillance

Data privacy challenges in the digital Era

In the digital era, data privacy risk is increasing at a rapid rate. It is mostly due to widespread collection of data, sharing of data without encryption and storage of personal information. Below are some of the challenges:

• Evolving and emerging technologies have impact on data privacy, requiring a multifaceted approach that includes legal frameworks, technological solutions and collaborative efforts to ensure that individuals’ rights gets protected in the digital age. The use of personal data bring a significant risk, particularly in generative AI (Gen AI) systems, where organizations shall implement measures to prevent the data and maintain strict oversight of data collection , data storage and data processing.
• Lack of awareness – the importance of protecting personal information, safe online practices and digital risk
• Cyber security attacks involve the use of computers weapons, such as malware, viruses, worms, Trojans, botnets that aimed at disrupting systems, damage or destroy data, stealing data for political, military, economic or ideological motives.
• Data breaches and leaks cause destruction or corruption of databases, confidential information leakage, and Intellectual property theft.
• E-commerce: Most of the user unaware of the privacy policy, stores and shares the data in e-commerce website resulting in breach of data
• Online payment risk includes payment fraud, unauthorized access to financial data.
• Internet of Things(IoT) vulnerabilities occurs due to weak and hardcoded password, Insure network and interface, insecure software installation, lack of privacy protection, Insecure data transfer and storage, improper device management and setting.
• Starts up are at more risk of cyber crime and data breachdue to data breaches, phishing and malware attack.
• Proliferation of smart city technologies(privacy) : It aims to improve quality of life through digitalization and data analysis into city management, result in the extensive collection of personal data. The misuse of such data could lead to individual’s privacy and subjected to unwarranted surveillance, targeted marketing, and even discrimination.
• Risk of sharing personal information on social networking sites leads to cyber stalking, cyber bullying, data breach, online harassment, defamation. It mostly done to steal information for fraudulent activities through Unauthorized access to personal data resulting in Legal issues.

The best possible ways of protecting the personal data

• Back up data on regular basis. Encrypt and lock the external storage device whenever connected to the main workplace in order to minimize the risk of losing all the data.
• Make sure to use unique and Strong password on smart phones, laptops, tablets for e-mails accounts, bank accounts, social networking sites and other logins. National Cyber Security Centre(NCSC) recommends to use three random words(Centre)
• Multiple level of authentication is is a security measure so that the right person is accessing the data. It requires at least two separate level of identification before access granted. For example, a password and a pass code, that is sent by email.
• Update installed software and operating system on regular basis to protect from latest threats
• Encrypt the data while sharing and storing
• Use of secure Internet connections instead of public network
• Install anti virus software to protect from malware attacks
• Always check the third party sites and service
• Stayed updated about the latest cyber attacked

Best possible to strength data privacy in Organization

• Identifying what type of personal data is used, where it is stored, who is sharing and how it is used.
• Implementing data protection measures (privacy by design) at the early stage of project and throughout the data processing cycle
• Do not hold extra data that can increase the risk of harm to individual. Instead, collect and process the required personal data considering the principle of data minimization found in General Data Protection Regulation.
• To reduce the risk of breaches from human errors, create awareness among the employees regarding the data privacy requirement and importance of protecting the personal data.
• Develop a robust access control system by role, attribute and use. The fewer employees should have access to sensitive information in order to reduce the chances of a breach of data.
• To identify the risk, regular audits of data processing activities is required.
• Using strong encryption for storing and transferring of personal data can reduce the risk of breaches.
• Implement strong and effective process for managing data breaches.
• There should an agreement to parties who uses personal data on behalf.
• There should a privacy policy for customer whose data used, to have complied with legal requirement with transparency.

Data Privacy Laws in 2025

Most of the country has enacted some sort of data privacy law, to regulate the collection, transfer and usage of data. Here are some of key ones in 2025 (Staff, 2025)

• Indiana Consumer Data Protection Act (INCDPA)
• India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA)
• Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act (DPDPA)
• S. Data Privacy Laws
• California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)
• Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA)
• Colorado Privacy Act (CPA)
• Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA)
• Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA)
• Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act (MTCDPA)
• Tennessee Information Protection Act (TIPA)
• Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA)
• Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA)
• Iowa Consumer Data Protection Act (ICDPA)
• Nebraska Data Privacy Act (NDPA)
• New Hampshire Privacy Act (NHPA)
• New Jersey Data Privacy Act (NJDPA)
• Kentucky Consumer Data Protection Act (KCDPA)
• Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MCDPA)
• Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (MODPA)
• The Rhode Island Data Transparency and Privacy Protection Act (RIDTPPA)
• New York SHIELD Act
• European Data Privacy Laws
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Digital Services Act (DSA)
• The Digital Markets Act (DMA)
• The EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework
• The EU AI Act
• Brazil’s General Law for the Protection of Personal Data, or the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD):
• Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
• China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL)

Conclusion

Data Privacy in the digital era comprises a many aspects, with each aspect presenting its unique challenges and considerations. The main aim is to control one’s personal information from being use for fraudulent activities. It involves aspects such as consent, transparency and trust towards the usage of the data.

As social media platforms become integral to everyday life, It becomes important to understand the relationship these platforms have with data privacy. There should be efficient data collection practices for ensuring the ethical handling of consumer data. Emerging technologies and societal behaviour cautions the future of digital privacy. Digital platforms be made secure and transparent while preparing and implementing the data protection strategies.

Digital privacy emphasise the importance of awareness, vigilance and proactive behaviour in preserving personal information. There should be continuous education, strict legislation, and sedulous privacy practices for user, consumers, employee, organization and countries around the globe. Privacy always remains a fundamental right that needs to safeguard and protected in the digital era.

Bibliography

Centre, N. C. (n.d.). Top tips for staying secure online. Retrieved from National Cyber Security Centre: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online/three-random-words

privacy, I. D. (n.d.). Understanding Privacy in the Digital Age. Retrieved from IEEE Digital privacy: https://digitalprivacy.ieee.org/publications/topics/understanding-privacy-in-the-digital-age

Rossevel, M. (2023, december 2017). What is The Scope Of Privacy And Data Protection? Retrieved from https://www.newsoftwares.net/: https://www.newsoftwares.net/blog/what-is-the-scope-of-privacy-and-data-protection/#:~:text=The%20scope%20of%20privacy%20and%20data%20protection%20includes%20safeguarding%20personal,regulate%20data%20collection%20and%20handling.

Staff, O. (2025, jan 7). Data Privacy Laws: What You Need to Know in 2025. Retrieved from osano: https://www.osano.com/articles/data-privacy-laws#new-and-upcoming-data-privacy-laws-in-2025