In the Middle Ages, Duby maintains, time alone was a rare commodity. Beds were prohibitively expensive. All but the wealthiest families shared one. And although royalty and aristocrats might have had their own beds, their bedrooms were hardly solitary. Servants and guards always remained at hand.<\/p>\n
Sharing sleeping quarters wasn\u2019t unique to western societies. Anthropologists studying the Trobriand Islanders, an ancient hunter-gatherer culture living off the coast of New Guinea, reported families lived and slept in one-room huts. When the parents wanted to be intimate, they told their children to cover their heads with mats.<\/p>\n
Having an ale, and someone else\u2019s mail<\/h2>\n
![\"privacy](\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2020\/01\/21100009\/privacy-history-inline1-mail-1024x525.png\")
\nPrivacy in mail delivery was also once spotty. Even a wax seal didn\u2019t guarantee an envelope would arrive unopened, its contents unread.<\/p>\n
In The right to privacy in American history<\/a>, David J Seipp describes how in the 19th <\/sup>century, letters from England arrived on merchant ships. These letters were delivered to taverns, then lay in a mailbag available to all, until claimed by addressees \u2013 or anyone else.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote> By establishing a postal service, the government aimed to protect individuals\u2019 privacy. But not everyone used it. Some preferred the convenience of merchant ship delivery, despite its risks.<\/p>\n Likewise, when the first telephones<\/a> appeared in the US, some predicted this new technology would be personal privacy\u2019s death knell. They had good reason. The earliest phones were in public locales like general stores. People heard everyone else\u2019s calls while they lined up to make and receive their own. Calls went through a central switchboard, where operators made manual connections while overhearing conversations.<\/p>\n When phones became common in the home, many were on \u201cparty lines\u201d \u2013 several households sharing one line. When someone wanted to make a call, they picked up the receiver and checked for a dial tone. If others were using the line, the caller heard their conversation.<\/p>\n Despite concerns about privacy, people kept using the telephone. It let them share information in real-time rather than sending costly telegrams or letters that took days, weeks or months to arrive.<\/p>\n Perhaps people were willing to sacrifice some privacy because they trusted technology could solve the problems it created. In time, private phone lines became increasingly available, and party lines disappeared.<\/p>\n The digital age has presented its own set of privacy challenges. An internet designed to facilitate the free and open exchange of information is also one that lets information be used in ways we don\u2019t always like.<\/p>\n Governments conduct \u201cdigital surveillance\u201d of citizens<\/a> using facial recognition technology. Digital personal assistants \u2013 such as Amazon\u2019s Alexa and Apple\u2019s Siri, \u201csmart\u201d television sets, and other internet-connected home devices have been hacked<\/a>. Yet sales of internet of things (IoT) devices keep rising. One report predicts the number of voice assistants in use will more than triple by 2023<\/a>, to eight billion.<\/p>\n Some might say privacy is already taking a back seat to the convenience the internet affords. At the same time, people and organizations clamor for ever-more-stringent personal data protection.<\/p>\n Governments globally are beginning to impose strict controls over the collection, use, sharing and sale of personal data. Most notable are the European Union\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR<\/a>) and the US State of California\u2019s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA<\/a>). While governments step up privacy protection, people keep posting their personal details online.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote> The US Federal Trade Commission fined social media site Facebook five billion US dollars for selling users\u2019 data to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica<\/a>. Recent news reports indicate Cambridge Analytica used social media to influence political elections around the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n Millennials supposedly have a devil-may-care attitude about the security of their personal information. In a 2016 US and UK study, seventy percent of millennials (aged 19 to 36) said they think their online privacy will probably be compromised and were not <\/em>alarmed<\/a>. But more recently, the Internet Innovation Alliance found no significant difference between generations on data privacy concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a 2019 Internet Society survey of consumers in Australia, Canada, Japan, France, the UK and the US, 75 percent expressed concern about companies sharing their personal data<\/a> without their permission. Even more \u2013 88 percent \u2013 want governments to guarantee their right to data privacy, while 80 percent thought laws and regulations are not enough.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n History shows us technology and human ingenuity can often solve the problems they create.<\/p>\n When people post their personal information on social media, they\u2019re choosing to do so. The violation occurs when a social media or other site sells or shares that information without its owner\u2019s consent. But an open and freely accessible internet doesn\u2019t have to mean exposing our most sensitive data.<\/p>\n Laws can help protect us, but they can only go so far. And lawmakers are still grappling with how best to impose restrictions on data collection and use without hindering free enterprise.<\/p>\n The light at the end of the privacy tunnel is innovation. In response to increasing concerns over personal data collection and use, technology companies are starting to give internet users alternatives \u2013 to choose privacy, or not.<\/p>\n The DuckDuckGo<\/a> search engine doesn\u2019t save users\u2019 search history, nor share their data. Some adblockers provide a similar service.<\/p>\n The social media site MeWe gives users a Privacy Bill of Rights<\/a>, promising data belongs only to the user and the site will never sell or share it.<\/p>\n For businesses, tech startup Duality Technologies invented \u2018homomorphic encryption,\u2019 letting technology companies analyze encrypted personal data without unencrypting it<\/a>. Reportedly, Google now provides a homomorphic encryption tool to its business partners<\/a>.<\/p>\n Emerging technologies also hold promise for improving privacy.<\/p>\n Blockchain, the basis of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, links transactions in a \u201cdistributed ledger,\u201d visible to users and unchangeable. Some predict Blockchain will be another means of creating encrypted digital identities<\/a>.<\/p>\n Admittedly, some who design technologies and run companies may not have public interests at heart. Laws are needed, therefore, to safeguard privacy. But even consumers recognize governments can\u2019t do it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the fight for data privacy, we need tighter regulation. But if too heavy-handed, legal restrictions could hinder innovation.<\/p>\n The best remedy is a combination of the two: flexible privacy laws plus digital offerings that enable users to protect their data. This \u201cone-two punch\u201d will usher in a new age in which our information, and that of our customers and partners, are as private as its owners want it to be.<\/p>\n To prepare for this new, privacy-centered era, enterprises should take steps now<\/em> to safeguard the data they handle, following GDPR<\/a> and CCPA<\/a> regulations. Do this whether or not these laws apply to your country and organization. You should also ensure that the third parties you work with are doing the same. Taking advantage of technology privacy solutions or inventing your own should be a part of this effort.<\/p>\n Next, the savvy organization will publicize its commitment to data privacy, for example, publishing a \u201cprivacy bill of rights\u201d as others have done. Establishing yourself as a leader in the data privacy movement could help raise your company\u2019s profile head-and-shoulders above the competition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n We can bet on human ingenuity, but businesses need to play their part by prioritizing their customers\u2019 right to privacy and providing easy access services to do so.<\/p>\n Innovation can, and should, usher in a rebirth of privacy, giving individuals and companies unprecedented control over their data. Meanwhile, the digital age will continue to enrich our lives in countless ways.<\/p>\n This article reflects the opinions of the author.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost every new technology is said to have finally killed privacy. One thing\u2019s for sure: Regulation alone can\u2019t keep our personal data safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2557,"featured_media":32118,"template":"","coauthors":[3654],"class_list":{"0":"post-32116","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-data-and-privacy","7":"emagazine-category-opinions","8":"emagazine-category-trends","9":"emagazine-tag-data-security","10":"emagazine-tag-privacy"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/history-privacy\/32116\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/history-privacy\/21796\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/history-privacy\/20183\/"},{"hreflang":"es-mx","url":"https:\/\/latam.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/history-privacy\/20495\/"},{"hreflang":"pt-br","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.br\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/history-privacy\/16395\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/32116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/p>
\nThe British government\u2019s Post Office Act established an official postal service in America in 1710 forbade opening someone else\u2019s mail, becoming the United States\u2019 first privacy law.\nWhen telephones came to the party<\/h2>\n
Hackable yet desirable<\/h2>\n
Protecting us from ourselves<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>
\nMany freely give up private information without knowing how it will be used. Privacy watchdogs and consumers worldwide are increasingly concerned<\/a> about the potential use of \u201cbig tech\u201d \u2013 including Google, Facebook and Apple \u2013 for political and cultural manipulation.\nBig brother is watching, but do consumers care?<\/h2>\n
![\"privacy](\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2020\/01\/21100129\/privacy-history-inline2-phonelines-1024x525.png\")
\nDoes personal privacy matter to consumers today, or doesn\u2019t it? The answer may depend on who we ask.<\/p>\nInnovations that aim to protect privacy<\/h2>\n
The dawn of a new privacy era: What businesses should do<\/h2>\n
\n<\/p>