Data privacy is among the top concerns of online users in today’s world. The ongoing debate defining benefits and risks of personal data being stored by multinational technology corporations continues to grow rapidly. In my opinion, the potential threats surpass the advantages it might bring.
Companies can argue that the data is stored in order to help improve the services provided, namely as more personalized and targeted advertisements that meet the customers’ interests. However, this claim is proved to benefit more to the media and third-party companies than it does to the users. A majority of people feel bombarded by an overwhelming number of advertisements every time they log online, causing distress and annoyance.
Moreover, investment effort in data protection of these organizations is not sufficient enough to withstand external threats. The system is far from perfect and is greatly vulnerable for hackers and cyber criminals to target and leak information. Data breach is considered one of the most devastating threats for all the parties involved as it bears a significant impact on millions of lives.
Furthermore, the inability to control how the individual information is used is another disadvantage that is worth mentioning. Regardless of the tighter regulation around personal data usage, there are still loopholes and gray areas where unethical data sharing can occur. There are countless breaking news and scandals about how large internet companies fail to follow standard laws about personal data protection as well as violating the rule about information sharing.
In conclusion, personal data contains highly sensitive information that carries a course of effect that can sometimes alter the entire life of one person. For that reason, unarguably, data protection needs to be the utmost investment in companies, as well as should be up to each user to decide if their personal data be collected and stored. Therefore, with the deficiency of data protection systems that organizations are using combined with lack of proper regulation and supervision around information sharing, it is posing more disadvantages than benefits when companies hold individual data.