Everybody knows that they’re aware of cloud storage and relevant platforms. And why not? It’s one such technological transformation that has been used in several threads of life, be it private or professional.
However, amidst everything else, one question that often people forget asking is that who gets the data ownership? As you may begin to learn, in most of the cases, it isn’t you. Although it might not be a correct answer, still, everybody desires to know how much control they have on their information, right?
So, how does this process gets its execution? Who has access to your data? Know everything about it in this post.
Data Ownership Revolves Around Who Created It and How It Was Created:
This can be quite a complicated process to comprehend; however, in certain cases, the selected platform where you store your data plays just as important a role as the person who generated the data.
Accordingly, 60% of data is generated in software as service programs. This simply means that as an individual, you’d be using the software, tools, and templates provided by the hosted application to create data either personally or for your business.
If that’s the case with you, things may get a bit chaotic for you. Considering that you’ll be using tools by the cloud service provider, you must always cross-check whether they’re authorized to the possession of your data or not.
The Type of Data May Vary:
Generally, the ownership may also vary on the basis of the content generated. For instance, if you’ve taken a picture on your camera, clearly, you’ll be the owner of that image, and hence, your entitlement will be protected through copyright laws.
This way, data that you create before uploading to your cloud storage provides you the intellectual and ownership property claims. On the other hand, the game may completely change for the data created within the cloud storage.
If you were ignorant of the ownership aspect before choosing the service provider, the ownership of your data might be in their hand instead of yours. Therefore, this is one aspect that’d demand your utmost attention.
Questions That Arise with Data Ownership:
Definitely, cloud and relevant storage have become an integral part of life these days. However, being too involved in the data itself and app features, people seem to be numb to the fact that they’re constantly being tracked and monitored.
After all, is there any other theory that can explain the targeted advertisements on social media relevant to their recent activity? No, right? Thus, it’s not just about the data that you store but the entire internet that you use altogether.
So, now the questions that you must ponder upon are:
- What happens to your cloud backups?
- What’s the protection level you’re getting from your cloud service provider?
- How exactly is your data protected?
- What happens if you transfer from one location to another?
- What kind of data is included in your ownership claims and intellectual rights?
Despite the fact that they’re residing in the grey area of legality, these questions shouldn’t be overlooked by you at any cost.
The Concept of Social Media:
The number of social media platforms and the data being uploaded over them contributes somehow to the extensive process of data collection. It’s not merely restricted to personal data. However, when talking about business, it includes promotions, marketing, former or new employees, public relations, and more.
The bottom line here is that individuals, like you and others, have created such a data collection process that’s incomprehensible for a layman and they haven’t even grasped the exposure concept completely.
Generally, to save some time and to prevent the monotonous reading of social media licensing agreements, people prefer scrolling down and clicking over the “I Agree” option. You’d have done that too, isn’t it?
Although the intricacy of language may vary from site to site, however, all of these agreements say the same thing.
“To enhance the services and products, you grant a royalty-free intellectual property license to use, make copies, reformat, retain, transmit, and distribute your content through varied communication tools.”
What Should You Do?
With all of this ruckus around, there’s plenty of things that you can do. To begin with, understand the kind of services you’re signing for. On top of that, you must also know about the difference between private services and software services.
Conclusion:
So, let’s think over this question again; who owns your data on the internet? Of course, it’s a grey aspect considering how legislation isn’t matching the pace with the use of modern technology. However, adequate protection comes from your willingness.
You should be cautious enough to understand, claim, and safeguard what’s yours by coming to proper agreements terms with the third-party. Or else, tighten your belts to have your data breached by conglomerates and large corporations.
Samiksha is an expert in information security management and a writer by profession at Walnut Folks. In technical writing for 6 years, she makes complex topics interesting to the general audience. She loves going on long drives in her spare time.