Online privacy is slowly getting the attention it deserves. Many bad things have happened after many years of internet users and big companies not doing everything in their power to preserve it.
Before supplying their data to businesses online, consumers might think twice.
After all, there are more threats than ever, and big companies perform questionable practices with users’ personal data. However, the paradigm is shifting slowly as consumers, companies, and governments take steps to deal with privacy issues and apply important regulations.
Here are some of the forecasts for digital privacy in 2022.
More privacy regulating actions are going to take place against companies
One of the top five violations today is all about employee privacy penalties and fines when it comes to regulation enforcement. At the same time, some of the highest fines issued today are related to employee privacy.
Different regulators are applying a variety of employee surveillance tactics. For example, some of the largest companies like H&M were exposed by regulators for keeping large amounts of employee personal data and their professional lives.
Some companies also set up protocols to record employees without having any legal basis for doing so. Many companies are also using special software to monitor their employees, and the chances are that regulators will investigate this as well, apart from continuing with the work they started.
Big tech companies will include more severe data policies
A lot of companies are responding to more rigorous regulations. They include more policies to protect the privacy of their consumers. All of that will cause a lot of complexity for developers, publishers, advertisers, and their consumers.
However, it seems that these policies that big tech companies are adopting benefit only them, allowing them to protect their assets. Even though these companies claim that their interest is to provide a choice for their customers and offer transparency, it seems that this isn’t the case.
The results will only help those organizations and their clients as they continue collecting user information. As far as developers, advertisers, and consumers on the web are concerned, this will only result in more issues.
Employee backlash is likely to grow
Since companies are constantly introducing new ways to see when their employees are at their computers, what they are doing, what they are clicking on, and how often they are clicking, we can expect more backlash in the future.
Employees are losing confidence in their employers. In 2019, only 32% of employees said that they feel comfortable sharing their workplace data. However, in most cases, they don’t want to work for the company officially because they are likely to lose their jobs. In other words, companies have mechanisms that allow them to do this.
At the same time, there is more and more news about companies breaching the privacy of their employees. In 2022 employees are more likely to learn about their privacy, how they can protect themselves, and stand up to their employers.
VPN usage will continue to grow
In 2020 the global usage of VPN grew by over 27%. That wasn’t caused only by the global pandemic and more people working remotely. This growth was obvious even before the pandemic and will continue to be present in the future.
In fact, projections show that this growth will continue in the foreseeable future. Thus, a VPN will become even more essential for protecting users’ privacy and anonymity online. After all, it encrypts internet traffic, hides IP addresses, and ensures that each communication happens safely. For instance, users can confidently connect to any network, be it at home or the airport.
At the same time, the global shift in thinking regarding online privacy has made users more open to using various tools that will help them get more privacy when browsing the web.
Governments are changing their stances globally
Currently, most governments across the globe are looking to legislate online data privacy. With the EU’s GDPR as the pioneering legislation, many countries can use it as a blueprint and adjust it for their markets and ecosystems.
For example, in the US, there is a serious need for the government to take a stance on this issue and tend to the needs of their citizens and users from all around the world using their services and visiting websites based in the country.
Consumers don’t want to be tracked by their identities, geo-location, and targeted based on their personal information.
Conclusion
These are just some of the forecasts for 2022. Overall, we are looking at more intense regulations along with stricter demands from internet users across the globe. It will likely lead to more conflict between users, companies, and governments.
Some progress is likely to be made but compromise as well, especially between big companies and governments.
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