Consumers are moving to services that protect their data and privacy
As part of a 5 part series, “Consumers are moving to services that protect their data and privacy” will explore consumer attitudes towards data privacy, social media and video surveillance - in an age where technology is relying more and more on personal and biometric data.
In today’s world, data has become currency; most of us know that if an online service is free, there is a good chance our data is the price.
In recent years, numerous stories about data breaches, data leaks, and unethical company behaviour have made consumers a lot more aware and wary of how companies collect, use, and protect their personal information.
The 2018 Cambridge Analytics scandal, in particular, brought up issues of ethics and data sharing practices used by Big Tech, and the consequences of social media companies’ data gathering and sharing capabilities.
In the same vein, other forms of technology and AI such as facial recognition have become more widespread. People are generally distrustful of things they don’t understand, and lack of transparency has arguably contributed to people feeling uneasy about the push towards increased surveillance on a large-scale automated level.
Since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, there has been a global scale shift to the virtual world in various spheres of life; including work, education, healthcare, and retail - as well as a boom in monitoring apps such as track and trace, to help tackle the unique issues presented.
With more and more personal data being surrendered, consumers are beginning to get increasingly savvy on issues surrounding their data privacy and are better coming to understand the value of their data to businesses and their corresponding personal data rights.
Companies know the value of customer data and often rely on it for targeted advertising, tracking sales trends, and improving their products and customer experiences. Whilst there have been several data protection acts such as GDPR, the CCPA (the California Consumer Privacy Act), and the LGPD (Brazilian Data Protection Law), there is still both a lack of awareness around what these acts do, and the discrepancies in their enforcement by regulators and DPOs (Data Protection Officers).
How can businesses tackle the trust gaps around surveillance, AI and regulation?
How can organisations blend consumer experiences with strong data privacy practices?
Part 1: People are realising the benefits of “invisible” methods of authentication for data security
Due to in person-restrictions and numerous lockdowns, consumers have been turning more and more to online avenues for their daily activities like shopping and banking. As businesses have made moves to accommodate this surge of online users, consumer expectations for secure transactions have grown.
In fact, Experian’s 2021 Global Identity and Fraud Report found that 55% of consumers say that security is their top priority with online transactions (1).
Opinions on authentication have shifted - passwords are becoming a thing of the past. Even though the average person has about 100 passwords, consumers are leaning more towards “invisible” methods of authentication: fingerprint or facial recognition or multi-factor authentication, as a means to provide better security and identity verification (2).
So much so that 74% of consumers ranked biometric security authentication as the most secure method, followed by 72% endorsing PIN codes sent to mobile devices (3)(4).
However, with these forms of biometric authentication, there is still a challenge with how personal data is secured and stored, as they contain sensitive information which could be vulnerable to being compromised. Should biometric data be hacked, unlike passwords and pin codes, biometric data is in itself an immediate, identifiable, and objective portal into an individual.
Part of why consumers are shifting towards these invisible methods of authentication is because there is a growing concern around data privacy, and an even more urgent need to protect personal data. Security around how biometric data is stored and encrypted is essential, as well as further steps such as anonymisation.
This is part of a 5 part series, “Consumers are moving to services that protect their data and privacy”, which will explore consumer attitudes towards data privacy, social media and video surveillance - in an age where technology is relying more and more on personal and biometric data.