Booming Number of Privacy Lawyers, Thanks to Data Use and Security

The balancing line between human rights and business interests keep narrowing causing a fuss to the internet society

With the global surge in digital technologies, the amount and value of data have exploded. Data is collected through many sources like social media, mobile devices, geo-location tracking and cloud-based technologies, and are shared for certain purposes. As the data collection routine intensifies, there is an increasing need for data and privacy lawyers who could argue the company's stance on data collection.

The advancements in technology and the wave of emerging technologies are changing the traditional model of doing things and solving problems, thereby creating new challenges which intersect with regulations and business interests. These forms of running the business by collecting data from people often flag privacy issues. The balancing line between human rights and business interests keep narrowing, causing a fuss to the internet society. Even simple marketing issues like email or messaging could draw a big pit for the company if it is not following privacy guidelines. Ultimately, companies are in search of professionals like a data or privacy lawyer who can ensure the organization's compliance and provide a competitive advantage. Privacy lawyers are not just focused on data issues. They are also concerned about cyberattacks that are drastically increasing over time.

Understanding privacy and data protection

Privacy is not secrecy as it is erroneously touted. It provides guidelines on where and how an organization can collect data from its users. Privacy is every citizen's right guaranteed under the Constitution of many countries. Henceforth, organizations collecting data should always abide by the privacy protocols in gathering information from clients.

Data protection has a different route where it deals with the integrity of data. Encrypted public data ensures that it is available and accessible only to certain people who have privilege over it. If the collected data falls into wrong hands, it leads to big security issues both to the victim and the organization. Henceforth, data protection is focused on the use and governance of personal data to make sure where it is used and who has access to it. Privacy space can be divided into certain categories as follows.

Privacy in IoT: Internet of Things (IoT) connects everything starting from mobile phone to AI-powered home appliances. Henceforth, it collects a lot of information and data from everyone. Privacy lawyers or professionals will be needed to advise developers and the manufacturing teams on embedding privacy at the design stage, by default and conducting an impact assessed if the invention is capable of occasioning risk to the freedom and rights of individuals.

Privacy in big data: Big data is an asset to organizations. Companies use big data to analyze and prioritize their customer's choice. However, the problem with big data is making sure that it is shared under legal forms. Since the data is at large numbers and needs heavy regulations, it often goes out of hand. Privacy professionals advise on the reasonable use of personal data and how to minimize the risk involved in it.

Laws on data protection and privacy

Even though when internet privacy is not part of constitutional rights in many countries yet, privacy legislations are making sure that organizations follow data protection guidelines while collecting and sharing information. If we consider the United Kingdom, it has some slightly permissive laws for people who have already purchased something from a company or an online portal.

In the US, it is nearly impossible to overarching privacy law as it applies to the collection of data. However, California has legislation to cover online privacy. The act named 'California Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA)' requires companies to disclose the kind of information that websites or online marketing collects, how the information is used, the process that customers follow to review and change the information that companies have about them, and the policy's effective date and description of changes.

The place of cyber and privacy lawyers

Over a decade ago when people began bringing technology into everyday life, lawyers were less aware of the role they would shape in the future. A very minimum number of law firms were then engaged in taking online privacy and data protection cases. However, the business boomed over years and is now one of the big genres of law field. Hogan Lovells currently has 85 lawyers to practice privacy laws. The International Association of Privacy Professionals has around 65,000 lawyers, which account to one-third of the global members count. With increasing data breaches and cyber attacks, the need for professional lawyers in the field is also spiking. It is expected to attract far more people in the future.