For better part of the last decade, there has been transformative change the way we communicate, collaborate, do business and socialize. Many of the services has been made available on free and freemium models (free basic and paid plans), often supported by Ads served or data harvested, shared with parent, companies in same group and even with third parties.
Whenever user registers for any account or service, terms and conditions, data privacy policy is the one they acknowledge before being confirmed for the account. Most of the times the policies are not that clear to average users and even if clear, user tends to move forward thinking what I have to lose, I am too small of negligible value to lose anything.
Now users have started gaining awareness, knowledge thanks to the efforts of many self-less volunteers and non-profit organizations. Users have started asking questions, becoming concerned about the their data being shared with or without their permissions whether they are opening social account, bank account, streaming service account or even going to local kids playhouse who makes parents sign on the consent to allow their kids to gain entry to the area.
This is nice development. Now is the time for cyber security and data privacy champions to help users, their clients, customers and even members of general public help make educated choice, what they are getting, what they are trading and opt-out options if any for them. Going for one service vs another, what is good today, may not be good tomorrow so educating, informing users is going to be a continuous process. The free and freemium model has run so long so users have almost come to conclusion that just getting internet free is everything they need for successful digital life. Now when they see talks about their data being shared, or their device details being shared, they have started to take part in conversation, voicing their concerns.
