7 Things to Know In 2021 about the New Privacy Laws Changing the Web
Privacy has been a turbulent topic in the past few years with online businesses facing stricter regulations and consumers becoming more cautious every day. As a result, we’ve experienced rapid changes in the online privacy landscape. Here are 7 key things everyone should know today regarding privacy on the Web.
1. The CPRA has set quite the precedent
Inspired by the GDPR and CCPA, the California Privacy Rights Act was drafted and will put into motion additional data processing obligations on businesses and organizations all across the state – and the globe in some cases. After it’s passage, even more states and countries began creating their own privacy acts to protect consumers.
2. New data protection regimes in the pipeline
According to Gartner, 65% of people worldwide will have their personal data protected by such regulations by 2023, compared to only 10% in 2020. Several new regimes are also jumping into the privacy regulations game including China, which published a first draft of the Personal Information Protection Law in October; and India, whose Personal Data Protection Bill from 2019 is becoming very similar to the GDPR.
3. US states are getting on board with privacy regulations
US states are starting to get on the bandwagon as well. The appearance of strong laws like the CCPA and CPRA in California and Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act were just a starting point. Other US states are getting on board. More precisely, there are 15 states today that already have privacy bills in the works.
4. No more third-party cookies
While they haven’t vanished altogether just yet, third-party cookies are slowly fading from the net. People didn’t feel comfortable with this invasive technology for surveillance. Google has already announced Privacy Sandbox as an alternative, a solution for cookie-free browsing.
5. Apps will start asking for users’ permissions soon
Apple’s Latest update is making a huge change – they’ll ask users for permission to track them across the apps and the Web. It’s a result of the squabble with Facebook. Companies like Facebook are now facing serious problems since, for a long time, they’ve been making money by using users’ data to serve personalized ads.
6. Use of encryption will probably remain a big debate
In October, the US Department of Justice released a statement undersigned by the UK, US, Australia, India, Canada, and Japan, arguing about the challenges that end-to-end encryption technologies pose to public safety. Still, even though some action was taken, there are many privacy campaigners like the Electronic Frontier Foundations who are opposed to the attempts to weaken encryption.
7. Technologies try to help users
Technologies who attempt to help users in the fight for their privacy are growing in number. For example, Solid by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology aims to provide users with more control over how their personal data is accessed on the Web. An MIT group announced SCRAM, a Secure Cyber Risk Aggregation and Measurement system used to share breach data anonymously.
As you can see, the privacy topic never ceases to yield interesting news. As privacy laws advance, we can expect grand changes coming soon.
