GDPR and Data Privacy: What Everyone Should Know Online

Yesterday during my study of digital marketing courses, one of the lessons was about GDPR and the whole data privacy chronicle. To be honest, I hadn't been snooping around in this matter before; I wasn't really concerned and I have to admit I was a bit ignoring it, but yesterday, since it came up within the course and related to digital marketing and advertisement policies, I felt the need to dig deeper.

Hi, I’m Saina, and you’re reading Sainaslife.

First of all, happy 'ber months! If you don't know what 'ber months are, I will reveal the secret for you: September, October, November, and December. These are the months that have the best holidays in them, Halloween and Christmas, my personal favourites.

But let's not get distracted by the magic of Halloween yet and get back to the data privacy matters we were discussing. I always like to share useful knowledge that I've learned with my subscribers, and that is why I'm writing this post today.

I dived deeper into the subject with the help of ChatGPT and learned some crucial information that I believe everyone should know before they open any app, website, or any online platform on that note.

Your online data consists of several parts. One piece of that data is information such as your name, email, phone number, address, ID numbers, or bank details, the information that you enter into a website/app voluntarily. The other piece is the data that websites and apps pick up kind of involuntarily. Why do I say "kind of"? Because you have most likely accepted the terms of service of that app or that website without even knowing the depth of the action you're taking. But no worries, you don't need to panic unless you have something very illegal to hide, which I'm sure most of us don't. That other piece of data comprises of less obvious data such as IP addresses, device IDs, cookies, browsing history, purchase history, location data, health records, and even opinions linked to your identity.

Now I am sure that I got you a little concerned, didn't I? But as I mentioned before, you don't need to worry about the government snooping in your private messages to your girlfriend/boyfriend. They are not interested in your intimate relationships, and even if they ever needed access to private messages, this would require proper legal procedures, such as a court order or warrant. It’s not something that happens casually.

Take TikTok for example. When you signed up for TikTok, you agreed to some terms and conditions. In those terms and conditions, it is mentioned that you would share some of your info with the app provider, and they promise not to share your data with third parties, third parties being governments or any other third party on that matter. But, and a big but here, if you plan to do some illegal stuff that might endanger people, the government can obtain a court order and access the information of your account, the very same email, phone number, IP address, or even comments you might have posted on any social media, but the reason has to be strong or else the judge won't grant them legal access.

You might feel safe with an anonymous TikTok account created using a separate email and a burner phone, but if you’re still using the same device or Wi-Fi network as your personal account, platforms can often connect the dots and identify you. Remember, this information is only for you to be careful about what you say online, and even though sometimes you might think it's a joke to threaten someone or make a national threat, that could end up not the way you thought it would.

The relationship between personal data protection and digital marketing is sort of a complex one. Even though as a digital marketing enthusiast, it is imperative to have access to more data in order to provide a better experience for the customers/clients, I believe that following a person's behaviour through multiple channels and platforms and creating a profile of them could potentially be used to take away their privacy online. If this information gets leaked or used in the wrong way, the results are going to be most likely catastrophic, affecting not only individuals directly involved but also the broader organization or community associated with the information. That is where GDPR comes in and protects your data strongly and doesn't allow easy access to your online data to third parties. But remember not to use shady websites or apps that are downloaded from unknown websites, because you never know who's behind the wheel of those apps/websites.

I hope I have added to your general info today and this post has been useful to you!

See you in the next post,

With love,

Saina