COVID-19 recovery and Privacy

 

What a difficult year this has been. During the past nine months, COVID-19 has disrupted almost every aspect of our lives, our work and our social interactions to a degree most of us never imagined possible. The economic damage may take years to repair.

But amid all this disruption, we have also experienced an incredible digital transformation. In just a few months, we have jumped forward years in our use of advanced digital tools for interacting with one another, running our businesses, sending our kids to school and understanding what is going on in the world.

Now, as we begin to move from responding to the coronavirus crisis toward recovery, data will play an important role. Much of the data needed to make positive progress is personal information – data about our location, our health and our work. To achieve the full benefits that the digital transformation promises, people must trust their information is used responsibly and respectfully.

Creating a framework of trust should begin with these four principles:

·        Transparency about how companies collect, use and share personal information. Consumers are clamoring to understand what data companies have and how they will interact with it

·        Consumer empowerment that guarantees the right of individuals to access, correct, delete and move personal information

·        Corporate responsibility that requires companies to be good stewards of consumer information

·        Strong enforcement through a strong central regulator and vigilant state’s attorneys general offices that have the authority and funding to enforce the laws and take action to hold violators accountable

This is the best and only way to create the conditions that will make trust possible. It is also an essential foundation for building a recovery that is robust and sustainable and serves everyone equally.