By Sridhar Iyengar, Managing Director for Zoho Europe
February 8th is “Safer Internet Day”. Created by the European Union back in 2004 and now a worldwide event, its goal is to promote good online behaviour, and share messages about how youngsters can stay protected from cyberthreats online. This year’s theme is thus 'All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online'.
According to Sridhar Iyengar, Managing Director for Zoho Europe, since the beginning of the pandemic, digitisation has boomed, especially amongst young people, which has led to a wider exposure surface:
“Tik Tok has been the new app phenomenon and it’s particularly popular amongst young Internet users. But the company is facing a 1.7 billion trial in the Netherlands for collecting personal data from children that use the platform without obtaining permissions required by the region’s data privacy regulations.
“Beyond this app in particular, illegal data harvesting tactics have become the commonplace business model of choice for many websites, even in spite of the implementation of GDPR in 2018 which has restricted how companies can use personal data. What used to be legitimate user tracking for marketing purposes has led to some selling users’ personal information to third parties. This often even happens in full sight of business or websites, and is regularly perpetrated by external tracking services attached to third party applications.
“As children, teens and young adults are more likely to play, meet, entertain, and buy online than other generations, their relatives must consequently talk them through the importance of privacy and why some apps are after their personal data. It is indeed key that the youngsters feel comfortable to talk with confidence about their online habits and review, with adults, the settings of the services they use. Then, they will be fully aware of what personal information are at risk and which apps they are better off without.
“In parallel, companies with sketchy data collection policies not only risk breaking the law, but may also face a severely damaged reputation. Indeed, users are becoming more acquainted with threats against their privacy, and increasingly they value trust as a key factor in deciding what technology and services they use. This trust will be based on comprehensive transparency and will be fundamental in the user journey. Organisations therefore have the responsibility to fully understand and acknowledge the practices used on their web properties by third parties and ensure compliance with the legislation in place. Otherwise, its user base will crumble in the near future.”
