E-Commerce - The Right of the Customer to Data Protection
Data protection. It’s a core part of any experience online involving e-commerce. What you have to appreciate is that when it comes to protecting customers and businesses online, there are still some gaping holes in security and international cooperation.
However, that’s hopefully all set to change, as the powers in the world are all gathering to try and make sure that there’s a standard of data protection which will help to keep everyone safe and free from harm.
The Stage is Set
There’s a place where ministers, business owners, CEO’s, banks and academics all gather, and it’s called the E-Commerce Week, and UNCTAD runs it. Now, many of you may well be wondering, what is the purpose of a place like this? What does it do for people who are involved in it?
Well, what we’ve got here is a place where the latest and most significant challenges and development goals for the world of digital shopping and sales can be discussed. The digital economy is just as viable a platform as the physical one, and so there is a need to meet up and talk about its various facets and intricacies.
There are more than 1,300 participants who together make up 120 countries attending, and they all work together to make sure that there is a consistent standard of growth and progress.
What is the Theme?
For this year, people are coming together to discuss one theme specifically, and that is ‘From Digitisation to Development’. This particular week will try and emphasise the need to break down barriers and ‘silos’ which impact and stop countries and business from working together to create sustainable development with regards to e-commerce. Following a massive surge in the sales that take place online, which have risen by 13% recently to a $29 trillion market, there’s been a need to make sure that data protection is one of the most important things for a company to focus on.
Data Protection - The Focus?
In essence, it seems like this conference will help to try and examine the overall state of e-commerce and assess whether the current security measures in place are suitable for a market of this value.
What we’ve never really had in the world of e-commerce is a unifying charter on how data protection is handled and the way that customers shop online. While significant steps were taken recently following the changes to the EU data laws, there’s also a lot which needs to be addressed. It is the hope of many that the conference will help to ensure that when talks are had for changing the laws and policies, you’re also making sure that the human rights and data protection of all who use e-commerce are looked after and not compromised. To that end, there’s the presence of Sophie Kwasny, who is the Head of the Data Protection Unit, to oversee some of the more critical tasks and make sure that the interests of the ordinary person are thought about throughout.
