Privacy and Data Protection Issues with the Adoption of SaaS

Before delving into Privacy and Data Protection Issues with the Adoption of SaaS, let's look into Privacy as a whole in the real world. One of the more obvious ways when it comes to data harvesting is through online shopping when we key in our details. However, there are less obvious ways like data brokers creating profiles of online users. There could be anywhere up to over 1300 data points collected; these could include data on sexuality, marital status, browsing history, and political affiliations. Acxiom is supposed to have data on 10% of the world’s population. 

In 2013 Edward Snowden comes forward as source of NSA leaks, and indicated how there's mass government surveillance taking place as well. Privacy and Data Protection is a heavy topic that is even debated today across the globe. 

What is Privacy? 

When considering Privacy, which is to do with Human Dignity and Autonomy, remember that Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares Privacy as a human right — "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence". The article goes onto to say that the law is there to defend any individual who is subject to such interference. 

However, in legal terms Privacy is not an absolute right. National security or public safety are just two reasons where Privacy is not assured. But, what about the concept of Data Protection? Data Protection deals with how third parties collect, share, store, process and use information they have concerning us. 

Data Protection in the Digital Age

In the digital age, we exchange our data in order to use services, content and social media platforms.  When you click Agree, you hand over your data to such platforms to utilize your information, which could mean selling it as well. In countries like Russia, Australia, and Brazil, their respective governments have access to our conversations, transactions and locations. Today, there are various internet policy forums like IGF, the Council of Europe and OECD, and conferences like CyFy that are involved in shaping such concepts in the digital age. Companies like WhatsApp in 2016 took the decision to install end-to-end encryption all in the effort to secure the consumer. 

Anyone who read about How Cambridge Analytica Sparked the Great Privacy Awakening and/or watched how Netflix's The Great Hack Brings Our Data Nightmare to Life will realize the importance of Data Privacy. The issue of privacy and its real-world intrigue is straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. 

The reality of this can be seen in the diagram below:

A more worrying article would be about Google and how it literally is Big Brother: Google collects a frightening amount of data about you. All of these issues has led digital netizens to take matters into their own hands. Anonymity tools like Tor and encryption are widely used. Alternative digital business models, which are against the extraction and sale of data, are now largely considered. Over the last few years, the use of ad blockers have increased, and this has led companies to utilize advertising practices that are less invasive. 

What Does this Mean for SaaS? 

Consider all that you have read thus far when it comes to Privacy and Data Protection. Now, let's move onto Saas, and Privacy and Data Protection Issues with the Adoption of SaaS. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is not just a cloud-based delivery model, but also a service that allows organizations to cater to their IT service management needs. SaaS applications have a lot of benefits: saving money and time, keeping an eye on technology budgets as opposed to infrastructure or gaining access to the newest innovations.

With all these advantages offered by SaaS products, remember that they can be a focus of interest to even hackers. This is why certain protocols need to be considered.

These protocols are as follows:

1. Encrypt your data

2. Make privacy a priority

3. Educate your customers

4. Back-up user data in several locations

5. Utilize stronger passwords

For more information, we believe that the article Privacy Policy for a SaaS Business is an excellent starting point when it comes to ensuring transparency and integrity.

How Secure is Hyvor Talk?

One of the main reasons to move away from Disqus is to do with the issue of privacy. Hyvor Talk is very secure and we take the aspect of privacy very seriously.

One of the main issues with privacy policies today in the digital world is the use of legalese, which makes the issue of understanding documentation very complicated. Complex terminology is something we have strayed away from, and have stuck to very simple descriptions. It needs to be reiterated that Hyvor Talk does not track users, and does not sell any data either, which are serious privacy issues faced by SaaS companies.

As a new commenting platform solution, Hyvor Talk, is fast changing how people interact with blogs, and it offers you a chance to understand our commenting platform and how different it is from its competitors. Having a comment box and embedded comments is important.

To conclude, Hyvor Talk has a strong focus on SaaS security; and, we are focused on building trust in our product and to foster an ecosystem that customers feel comfortable using. As consumers become more knowledgeable regarding their personal security, there will be more secure products, which are sure to become a very attractive proposition to buyers.