Protecting image and identity with european GDPR

Social networking sites come with incredible advantages — and one very big vulnerability. The truth is that individuals who conduct their lives online are always at risk of having their images and identities stolen. Here’s what to know to uphold privacy and protect sensitive information in the digital age.

Why protecting image and identity online matters more than ever

What is seen as the World Wide Web is only about 1% of what’s actually out there. The “deep web” is a term used to connote “the other 99%” of what doesn’t get seen at all. Some of that, however, is illegal identity theft operations. This is why protecting image and identity online is a huge undertaking. The explosion of social networking sites has spiralled from one or two major hubs to apps sharing information between each other in the name of “integration”. And, as users set up multiple accounts and spread multiple instances of their images for sharing and re-sharing, keeping a track of lawful uses of images is itself a walk down the rabbit hole. It’s not only about explicitly sharing or not sharing credit numbers and banking information. Protecting image and identity online is about quelling the process that begins when a possible hacker grabs what few photos or details a user has posted online and uses this to actually dig further for flight information, employment history, purchases, and more.

Community versus privacy: there are laws against that!

When users look at social networking sites, they see [i]community[/i]: the chance to build a following, to become a brand, to connect with friends, to gain followers, to post tutorials and more. When those intending identity theft look at social networking sites they see [i]opportunity[/i]: to circumvent laws protecting image and identity online, in order to sell sensitive information or simply use it for their own ends. Yes, there are definitely laws in place to protect users and the sensitive information that they must give out in order to sign up. While the same laws protecting image and identity operate online as they would in “real life”, the question is one of enforcement. With so many anonymous users, simply tracing an infraction can be a problem itself. In general, apps and sites will usually have a Terms of Use section the user must agree to, along with a strict privacy policy when they sign up as well as when they “connect” apps. If a person finds their image or intellectual property being shared or used without their permission, they can send a cease and desist letter to try and stop the unwanted activity.

The issue, of course, comes down to a more insidious form of data collection: big data. Meta data gathered as an aggregate across networks to form one full composite picture of an individual, right from their buying choices to which high school they graduated from. This is supposed to be in the name of online marketing, advertising and delivering better products that will suit people’s needs. But with a rise in cyber warfare attacks, data networks are more vulnerable than ever before. The bottom line? Sharer beware.