The lure of freebies expose us to shocking data risks
In his book, Closing the Gap, University of Johannesburg vice-chancellor, prof Tshilidzi Marwala, postulates that whoever controls data, controls the future. His assertion emphasises the significance of African countries investing in digital technology, thereby protecting their own data and sovereignty. Often deemed the modern-day currency, data comprises various distinct pieces of information with phenomenal value subject to precise interpretation, analysis, management and safekeeping. The compression of time and space brought about by technological developments, coupled with fast-paced advancements in the mobile app space in particular, has enabled most organisations to amass vast amount of data, most of which is voluntarily provided by app users.
Driven by a desire to keep up with latest trends, people tend to volunteer sensitive personal information in exchange for instant gratification. These data trade-offs have become common place, with most companies offering a tiny instant benefit in exchange for valuable pieces of information such as discount vouches or free meals in exchange to signing up on an app; and shopping reward points accumulated over time, while secretly monitoring customers movements, to name a few.
So shocking was a report by Smart Insight, a marketing agency, which uncovered that people publish about 3.3-million Facebook posts, 448 800 tweets, 65 972 Instagram photos and 500 hours of Youtube videos in one minute. This further confirmed a claim by Mediakix, a Usbased marketing agency, which asserted that people spend more time on social media than they do eating, drinking and socialising on a daily basis.
Sadly is the fact that most people overlook the sensitivity of data they are freely giving away, not to mention their consent authorising these companies to further process and reuse their data. It is unfortunate, however, that the amount of profit generated from the data far surpasses the reward given to data subjects.
Moreover, this data tends to be vulnerable and susceptible to leaks, most of which negatively impact data subjects with little or no impact on companies using it.
A case in point is last month’s leak involving personal data of 533-million Facebook users, including names and phone numbers associated with Facebook accounts. This leak comprised 6.1-million users from India, 32.2-million from the US, 11.5-million from the UK and 7.3-million from Australia.
Although Facebook was quick to dismiss the incident, stating that it occurred in 2019 and has already been resolved. The fact remains that sensitive data was compromised and mischievous organisations have accessed it and can do as they please. Data literacy should be delayed no more. A consideration should also be made by Third World countries to support the development of regional mobile apps, cloud services and data management applications. This will not only give African states control over their data, but it would also enable Africa to derive value from continental data.