Doh! I’m already a day late (but not a dollar short because it’s free to participate!). Data Privacy Week 2022 is taking place this year from January 24 through 28 and is the largest annual coordinated privacy awareness and education campaign in North America!

This year, National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) has expanded the Data Privacy Day campaign into Data Privacy Week 2022, a full week-long initiative. Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008 as an extension of Data Protection Day in Europe. Data Protection Day commemorates the January 28, 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection.

Data Privacy Week 2022 helps spread awareness about online privacy and educates citizens on how to manage their personal information and keep it secure. Data Privacy Week also encourages businesses to respect data and be more transparent about how they collect and use customer data. To promote these goals, the National Cybersecurity Alliance will promote and encourage the following actions leading up to Data Privacy Week 2022:

FOR INDIVIDUALS: KEEP IT PRIVATE

Everything you do online generates data. There’s data about your activities, behaviors, and interests. There’s your personal data, like your social security and driver’s license numbers. And there’s data about the physical you, like health data. It’s easy to feel a lack of control over the information collected about you. However, there are steps you can take to learn about the types of data you’re generating online, and how it’s collected, shared and used.

Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with data privacy, and companies are realizing this and responding. We encourage consumers to be selective about who they choose to do business with and understand the value of their data.

FOR ORGANIZATIONS: RESPECT PRIVACY

According to the Pew Research Center, 79% of U.S. adults report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies. Respecting consumers’ privacy is a smart strategy for inspiring trust and enhancing reputation and growth in your business. Be open and honest about how you collect, use and share consumers’ personal information. Think about how the consumer may expect their data to be used and design settings to protect their information by default. Communicate clearly and concisely to the public what privacy means to your organization and the steps you take to achieve and maintain privacy.

Steps that both individuals and organizations can take for better data privacy can be found on the NCA site here.

Great advice in both cases. Data privacy impacts every individual and pretty much every organization these days, so it’s no surprise that they stretched it to a week (which I didn’t find out about until last night – oops!). Look for Data Privacy Month in 2023! Just kidding… 😉

So, what do you think? Did you know this week is Data Privacy Week 2022? Now you do! Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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