Data Privacy

Forrester’s predictions for 2020 see privacy concerns gaining steam

Research giant Forrester has published its predictions for 2020, and increased data privacy is one of its expected trends.

Its analysts say: “2020 will be a bad year for third-party data and a good year for marketers who take consumer privacy seriously.

“Consumers are deeply concerned with how their data is collected and used. A barrage of news about data breaches, government surveillance, and corporate misconduct has soured consumer sentiment on current data practices.

“The backlash has begun, and more people are taking active measures to protect their privacy. Forrester predicts that privacy class-action lawsuits will increase by 300%. Big tech firms such as Apple and Mozilla are providing consumers with new tools that shut out data collection. Anti-surveillance startups will receive funding. New regulations will be handed down.”

Increasing awareness from consumers of how their data is used, and a desire to bring this back under their control, is a growing trend that we have been aware of since its infancy , and which our Private Sharing platform was built to facilitate.

The growing numbers of people using our platform, of companies working with us to get to know their customers better through consented data sharing, and of developers building third-party apps on it designed around the ethical use of data are all testament to a desire for greater privacy.

Everything we do is based on a vision of putting individuals back in control of the data from their digital lives, so it is great to see increasing recognition at all levels of industry about the wider importance of privacy, and how that enables the full power of data to be unleashed.

Another Forrester trend predicts that “ransomware incidents will grow as attackers learn that holding data hostage is a quick path to monetization.”

Of course, by decentralising data storage and handing it back to individuals, digi.me also eliminates the centralised honeypots of data that are the most attractive to hackers.

More proof, if any was needed, that decentralised and personalised data storage libraries, where individuals control their own data and where and with who it is shared, are indeed the future.

Here’s to quickly bringing that future into the present.