Ever since the advent of the Internet, data in general and Big Data in specific have experienced an upsurge in its usage and collection. With this, data has found and etched its own importance in the IT industry.

The ease of use that the internet-driven services have provided has significantly increased the quotient of internet users, which is the primary source of data. Check the insane amount of internet users globally in the graph below! The average time spent on the Internet is close to seven hours a day. Ironically, it is the same as the recommended sleep time, which most of us spend as 'internet-time.'

So, if we’re spending an average of seven hours a day, according to the predictions given below, 1.7760*60 MB of new information is created by every internet user per day! And the overall new data generated is around 44 trillion GB per day!

The most crucial point to note here is that the most significant share of the data generated is your private data. For instance, a location-sharing app, it discloses that a person John Doe was at this cafe for so much time. None of us want to feel like we're watched over; this clearly is a breach of one's privacy. Which is not taken very seriously by most of the data collectors.

Big Data Analytics and Data Regulation Laws

When we talk about Big Data, we ought to consider Data mining also. While one deals with collection and storage, the latter deals with patterns and analysis. Companies mine data for analytics purposes, which is necessary to generate knowledgeable data for education and business processes. But not all of them mine data legitimately, which lead to the enforcement of regulatory acts.

It was in the year 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation Law (GDPR) was enforced. The key takeaways from the law are:

• Consent: Companies need user's consent before collecting or storing their data.
• Documentation: Companies need to keep detailed documentation of their stored data.
• Access to information: Users can request documentation of their data being held.
• Data Objection: Data subjects can object as to how their data is being used.

Here's a graph that shows how compliant or ready were the companies to adapt GDPR. As much as 40% of US organizations don't consider adopting GDPR as a priority at all.

This points to the lack of interest the organizations depict regarding data privacy and security of the creators of data, which is you. It goes without saying that the laws will keep taking the next mile of regulations over time.

Current regulations and their impact on data collectors

In recent events, India's Government has banned the usage of certain mobile applications in the country. This includes high grossing applications like Tik Tok, Shein, UC Browser, WeChat, and many more. The reason being sharing of data to another country via these apps may not be safe. The ByteDance owned TikTok had a user base of 30% in India alone, is the most downloaded app on the app store. It is estimated to undergo a loss of over 110 billion USD due to the ban on these apps.

According to a news report, there has been a ban on social media platform applications for the Indian army officials. It is a step taken towards protecting sensitive data from leakage. The officials have been asked to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder profiles for the same. Many cases have been reported in the past of divulging confidential information via online platforms. Hence the nation is taking all preventive measures.

Keeping the political reasons aside, how are these impositions relevant in the data industry? Why are we stating these facts in an article pertinent to the IT industry? You may wonder. This is not off-topic. We can see that bans have been imposed because of leakage of information/data. This makes our initial point clear that companies have been making money by knowingly/unknowingly compromising your private data.

Certainly, these impositions will impair the current trends and levy discipline in data collection in the coming years. However, not all companies violate data protection regulations. GeoDB - An organization dedicated to maintaining transparency between the data collectors and you is one of them.

Impact on the users

Regulation of data doesn’t mean that no organization can collect any data whatsoever. We need data analytics. There’s a reason Big data Analytics exists. Loss of user’s privacy over data is one of its downsides. Doesn’t mean we’ll stop analyzing data.

Data analytics is necessary for various reasons like; To study data patterns over the years. For instance, We’re amid a pandemic now. By analyzing previously recorded pandemic data, we can predict the adverse effects of the current one and take precautions. To improve customer satisfaction. For instance, In all business processes, customer satisfaction is given priority over others. By analytics and mining, the preferences of customers can be predicted. For educational purposes.

All of these data can also be collected by keeping the user’s identity anonymous. Thereby protecting the interests of both, the data collectors and you.

GeoDB achieves this by the combination of Big data analytics, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. They keep the user’s identity anonymous by a decentralized system. Not just that, they also reward their users in the form of geo-tokens: A concept of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a digital asset of money where the transactions that happen are highly encrypted. Thereby not disclosing any personal information.

Conclusion

These regulations are definitely a good sign for the data industry. As users, we will definitely have a sense of credibility whenever we’re browsing, shopping, or uploading anything on the internet. The law enforcement also creates an open platform for companies such as GeoDB who have been practicing the right data protection norms irrespective of the laws. For more information on us as an organization, please visit the website here.