How to Ensure Your Privacy in a Data-Driven Future

Dr Mark van Rijmenam, CSP
6 min readJul 22, 2019

There is a downside to the abundant presence of data in today’s society.

Today’s tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Tencent and Alibaba have long recognised that data is a valuable asset. They have been aggregating vast amounts of data in return for ‘free’ services from the outset.

The problem with ‘free’ services is that you and your data are the actual product. This has resulted in a centralised web and a handful of organisations dominating and controlling it. This has caused problems with truth and trust — such as fake news, clickbait, trolling, spam, absence of accountability and above all lack of privacy.

These centralised internet corporations are incredibly powerful. They have access to vast amounts of data of their users, which they use and abuse to follow (potential) customers around the web. These organisations often ignore existing privacy practices. They use the data to their liking, often without properly involving or informing the consumer, as became once again clear last week with Google workers secretly listening to recordings on the Google Home.

Who Can Protect Your Privacy?

Fortunately, in recent years, media attention to these problems has grown. Consequently, consumers have become more aware of…

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Dr Mark van Rijmenam, CSP

Innovation Keynote Speaker (CSP) & Strategic Futurist for Fortune 500 | Talk to my Digital Twin via text, audio or video in 28 languages!