As Carolina Botero(1) explained, private data is the new bargaining chip in the specific area of ​​the Internet. But what makes our private data so important? Vance Packard author in 1965 of the book "The Naked Society" warned from then on the danger of automated data collection. According to Doug Specht(2), Packard was concerned, for example, that in the case of workers this collection would result in a classification of employee profiles and excessive surveillance. As for the students, he showed no less consideration to the possible impact on their opinions regarding various issues, and needless to say about what was already happening at that time in terms of the commercialization of products and services, since the data collection it opened the door to unexpected and insistent calls to offer these, until the consumer was fed up.

Well, these fears have increased with the arrival of the digital age and even more so in pandemic times, where with the excuse of protecting the collective health, data is taken from us when we enter a supermarket, or even when we buy a simple book in the stores. sites intended for it.

What is our data processed for? For multiple purposes, from offering services or products similar to those we have purchased in the past, to influencing our democratic decisions.

It is evident that this information in the hands of the private and state sectors can become a time bomb against ourselves, since we can be classified even within an undesired profile for the government in power. We are in an era where technology is about to overtake man and at the entrance of authoritarian and super-policed ​​governments.

It is then necessary that the companies that receive our advice in relation to data collection, comply not only with the legal standards of each local regulation, but also, within their self-government laws, aspects not mentioned in the same.

Thus, for example, as explained by Tony Raval(3), there must be a person in charge of communications with clients regarding this specific item, and who also has the capacity to instruct the rest of the team on these matters.

The information obtained should also be classified depending on whether the collection has been obtained in accordance with ethical standards. That is, if the information is transferred from another legal entity to the one we are advising, it must be verified that that legal person that is making such data transfer has been in charge of sufficiently informing the client about it, about the consequences, and in general, if there has been a clear and informed consent. Likewise, it will be taken into consideration if the person transferring the data is a public or private company, and how many more have the same data collection.

Finally, within each company, there must be an administrator of the data collected, who will be in charge of properly guarding them, of canceling them immediately when required by customers, and who should monitor the handling of these by third-party companies involved. , in such a way that the client feels above all trust and knows in advance how their personal information will be processed.

This is then the way to get a step ahead of technology so that it does not become that uncontrolled monster that we fear so much these days.

1)Botero Carolina “La Protección de sus Datos es Importante para Nosotros”. Diario el Espectador. Agosto de 2013. Bogotá, Colombia.

2)SPECHT Doug “Undressing with the Lights On: Surveillance and the Naked Society in a Digital Era.” 2017. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. 12(3), 78-90, DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.268.

3)RAVAL Tony “Data Privacy as a Basic Human Right”. 2019. Recuperado de Página web: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/11/12/data-privacy-as-a-basic-human-right/#154e2d184cbf