Why data privacy will remain a hot tech topic for those who want to avoid an Orwellian future

People are becoming more and more vulnerable thanks to the sheer amount of data that we willingly hand over on a daily basis to companies we trust implicitly

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Protecting privacy will remain an issue for people, governments and companies as technology scoops ever more data. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:46am, 21 Feb 2019Updated: 9:06am, 22 Feb 2019

Recently it was revealed that a number of iPhone apps using analytics from software company Glassbox Digital embedded a ‘session replay’ feature that essentially recorded the screens of users while they used the app – capturing sensitive data including credit card details and passwords along the way.

The companies using the technology were not obscure or small-scale either – including apps from industry heavyweights such as Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, Expedia, Hotels.com and many more. Although in this case access to a customer’s sensitive information was retained somewhat unintentionally, it once again highlighted the vulnerability for consumers that is inherent and always present when we regularly entrust our most sensitive and private information to major corporations.

Although we are not even 50 days into the new year, there have already been a number of major news stories that have once again brought the issues of privacy and data security back into the public consciousness. In January this year, it came to light that Facebook had exploited a loophole in Apple’s enterprise software platform (normally restricted for internal company use only) to distribute a ‘research’ app outside of Facebook that was used to (among other things) track teenage users.

And just a week ago, a critical flaw in Apple’s FaceTime software for iOS devices was exposed that allowed a user’s microphone to be turned on without their knowledge or permission before answering or declining a FaceTime group chat call.

While much has already been written about the increasing number of major data breaches that have occurred in the last few years, what has become painfully obvious recently is that while we do face serious threats to our privacy from our information getting into the wrong hands, we are also becoming more and more vulnerable thanks to the sheer amount of data that we willingly hand over on a daily basis to companies we trust implicitly.

As our phones and other mobile devices take on a more central role in our daily existence, we are also willingly (and perhaps unwittingly) generating an ever-increasing amount of data that can serve to paint a picture of our lives in the most intimate and excruciating detail.

The fact is though, when we do not think about it too much, most of us are actually pretty happy with giving away this level of information when we get a better user experience or greater level of convenience in exchange. After all, using your face or your fingerprint to access all of your apps is so much easier than typing in one of the half-dozen passwords you use, and it saves a few valuable seconds when directions to the restaurant you have booked show up automatically in your maps apps, thanks to the confirmation email sent to your inbox a few days ago.