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Data is valuable to everyone – businesses and the bad actors in cyberspace. It’s almost as though these groups of people compete for customers’ data. Yet, some customers do not realize how much their data is worth, so they share it recklessly. Others, on the other hand, exercise caution with whom they share their data.
A few businesses and customers are negligent about data handling and sharing. This shows that businesses and customers do not have enough data privacy information. Hence, this blog post is dedicated to helping you know what you should know about data privacy as a business owner and customer.
What you should know about Data Privacy as a Business owner
If you are a business owner, you would know how important customer data is. Having customer data at your disposal means you have customers who interact with your business. The data also helps you to make informed decisions while you operate. Let’s discuss what you must know about data privacy in business.
Privacy is a Right
Customers have the right to privacy. Data privacy is as crucial as the right to life or freedom of expression. So, taking their right to privacy is as gruesome as denying their right to life or free speech.
If the law supports data privacy, then you cannot go back on it. Instead, you must treat it as a right and let your customers enjoy it.
Data set De-identification
Others can recognize us by our personally identifiable information (PII). PII covers names, addresses, social security numbers, bank account details, credit/debit card details, etc.
When you want to share your customer data, you must de-identify it. You must remove the PII from the data you want to share.
When it is time to share browsing behavior with your third-party vendors, ensure to remove names, credit card details, and social security numbers from the data set. In this case, you can share hours spent online, sites visited, purchase history, etc.
Privacy is a Legal Obligation
The law obligates you to retain your customers’ privacy. In a business-customer relationship, the law requires that you do what will preserve your customers’ privacy. The law wants you to have a data privacy policy, have data protection measures, hire a DPO (Data Protection Officer), etc.
Therefore, you must familiarize yourself with the data privacy law that operates within your business jurisdiction.
For example, you must know if it is the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), etc.
What you should know about Data Privacy as a Customer
While companies must do all that the privacy law obligates, you must also watch out for yourself. Let us examine what you must also know as a customer.
Data Privacy is your Right
You deserve the right to privacy and must not be denied it. When you enter a business relationship with a company over the internet, ensure a privacy policy statement is signed.
When you see a privacy policy agreement, do not accept it in a hurry. Instead, take time to digest every bit of information in the agreement. See what the agreement says about how it will use and store your data.
Check if the business will share your data, whom it will share it with, and what it will share. Also, check the business’ policy about deleting your data when you request it.
Free Apps can be Harmful
Limit what you share with free apps. As these apps are free, there is a barrier to how private your data can be. They share your data with advertisers, other companies, government, and intelligence agents.
They also go as far as monitoring you with trackers. Most social media platforms do this. So, be careful with your apps, what you share with them, and what privacy permission you allow.
You can choose not to Share
As a customer, you are not under compulsion to share your data if you do not want to. You are free to determine who you will share your data with. For example, you might decide to share your data with Facebook and not do the same with TikTok.
Data privacy in business affects both companies and their customers. Both parties must take full responsibility for their actions. Know that you are equally responsible for data privacy as a business and a customer. Do you need more information on data privacy for your business? Reach out to Zendata for the best service!
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