Several internet businesses gather and use our personal information in exchange for access to their digital goods and services. With the use of that data, they can forecast and affect our behavior in the future. Recommendation algorithms, targeted marketing, and individualized experiences are examples of this type of surveillance capitalism.
Many customers are unhappy with these methods, especially after knowing how their data is obtained, despite tech companies' claims that these personalized experiences and advantages improve the user's experience.
Digital resignation refers to the circumstance in which users of digital services continue to do so while being aware that the businesses providing those services are violating their privacy by conducting extensive monitoring, manipulating them, or otherwise negatively affecting their well-being.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal and Edward Snowden's disclosures about widespread government spying shed light on data-collecting techniques, but they also leave individuals feeling helpless and accustomed to the idea that their data will be taken and exploited without their express agreement. Digital resignation is what we call this.
Acknowledging and improving these tactics is the responsibility of both policymakers and businesses. Dealing with data gathering and use alone will not result in corporate accountability for privacy issues.
Our daily lives are completely surrounded by technology. But it's impossible to obtain informed consent when the average person lacks the motivation or expertise necessary to understand confusing terms and conditions rules.
However, the European Union passed regulations that acknowledge these destructive market dynamics and have begun to hold platforms and internet giants accountable.
With the passage of Law 25, Québec has updated its privacy rules. The purpose of the law is to give people more protection and control over their personal information. It grants individuals the right to seek the transfer of their personal data to another system, its correction or deletion (the right to be forgotten), as well as the right to notice before an automated decision is made.
Additionally, it mandates that businesses designate a privacy officer and committee and carry out privacy impact analyses for any project involving personal data. Also, it is necessary to gain explicit agreement and to communicate terms and rules clearly and transparently.
