Within the scope of January 28 Data Protection Day, how data, which has become one of the most strategic elements of the digital age, is produced, how it is interpreted, and what risks it poses for individuals, has come to the agenda once again.
Hakan Özdemir, Corporate Big Data Coordinator at Üsküdar Üniversitesi, drawing attention to areas where personal data is most at risk, said, “The biggest risk is in mobile applications with unknown sources and open Wi-Fi networks. The most common mistake individuals make is a lack of ‘cyber hygiene’; that is, using predictable passwords like birth dates and thoughtlessly granting camera/contact access permissions to every application.” Making an important reminder about the operation of free applications, Özdemir stated, “In the digital economy, there is no such concept as ‘free’; there is ‘exchange’. You use a navigation application for free, and in return, you give your location data and driving habits. You use a messaging application for free, and you give information about who you talk to and how often. These platforms do not see the user as a ‘customer’ but as a ‘target audience’ to be presented to advertisers. In short, we pay for the service not with our credit card, but with our privacy.”
Hakan Özdemir, Corporate Big Data Coordinator at Üsküdar Üniversitesi, explained that within the scope of January 28 Data Protection Day, not only the collection but also the accurate interpretation of data is vitally important.
Data, the new oil of the digital age
Explaining why data is defined as the “new oil,” Hakan Özdemir said, “In the industrial revolution, oil was the main power that ran machines and grew the economy. In the digital revolution, this power is ‘data’. However, there is an important difference that distinguishes data from oil. Oil is depleted as it is used, while data multiplies and gains value as it is used. Today, all sectors such as finance, health, e-commerce, and transportation make their decisions not with intuition, but with processed data. Raw data is a worthless pile of numbers; but when processed, it turns into ‘information’ and ‘insight’, providing a competitive advantage to companies and countries.”
Real data is what we produce unknowingly
Hakan Özdemir stated that most individuals think they only produce data when sharing on social media, saying, “We think we only produce data when we share photos or send messages. However, there is a massive traffic we call ‘passive data’. Our heart rate from our smartwatches, our speed from navigation, even how long we hover our mouse over which product on e-commerce sites are being recorded. Especially with the proliferation of smart home devices, which we call the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), our digital footprint has now entered our homes. The vast majority of the data we produce continues to flow in the background after we turn off the screen.”
Not quantity, but meaning is important
Emphasizing that it is meaning, not quantity, that makes data valuable, Hakan Özdemir stated, “In the past, the understanding of ‘the more data we have, the better’ (Big Data) prevailed. Today, the era of ‘Correct and Clean Data’ (Smart Data) has begun. Billions of unnecessary data rows only serve to slow down the system. The important thing is to establish relationships between data and to foresee the next step. It is not about a supermarket having millions of receipt details; what makes data valuable is being able to understand from those receipts that a customer’s baby has been born and to offer suitable deals.”
Beware of the lack of cyber hygiene!
Hakan Özdemir, also drawing attention to the areas where personal data is most at risk, continued:
“The biggest risk is in mobile applications with unknown sources and open Wi-Fi networks. Especially the entertainment applications popular recently, which allow you to upload your photo and transform you into different characters, are actually creating the world’s largest biometric data pools. The most common mistake individuals make is a lack of ‘cyber hygiene’; that is, using predictable passwords like birth dates and thoughtlessly granting camera/contact access permissions to every application.”
No free in the digital world, there's exchange!
Making an important reminder about the operation of free applications, Hakan Özdemir stated, “In the digital economy, there is no such concept as ‘free’; there is ‘exchange’. You use a navigation application for free, and in return, you give your location data and driving habits. You use a messaging application for free, and you give information about who you talk to and how often. These platforms do not see the user as a ‘customer’ but as a ‘target audience’ to be presented to advertisers. In short, we pay for the service not with our credit card, but with our privacy.”
Data literacy is now a basic civic skill
Hakan Özdemir, also touching upon the spread rate of deepfake videos and fake news, said, “Data literacy is the ability to question the source of information encountered in the digital world, to understand how it is produced, and to realize whether a graph or statistic is misleading us. Today, the reason for the rapid spread of deepfake (artificial fiction) videos and fake news is not technological inadequacy, but low societal data literacy. This competence is now as essential as knowing how to read and write in order not to be manipulated and to be able to defend our digital rights.”
Collecting data is archiving, interpreting data is detective work
Evaluating future risks, Hakan Özdemir stated, “Collecting data is archiving, while interpreting data is detective work. Imagine you have a puzzle box with thousands of pieces; collecting the pieces in the box is data collection. Combining those pieces to reveal the landscape is interpretation. The technology world has now moved beyond data storage; the current big race is about who can derive ‘results’ from this data faster and more accurately.
Noting that digital systems and algorithms are trained by humans and with past data, Hakan Özdemir said, “If there is a societal bias in past data (for example, if only men have worked in a specific profession), the algorithm might perceive this as a rule and exclude future female candidates. Even if technology appears neutral, if the data itself is dirty or biased, the outcome can also be discriminatory. This is one of the biggest discussion topics in digital ethics.”
The biggest danger is data manipulation
Hakan Özdemir explained that data breaches (password theft, card copying) would cause financial damage, which can be compensated, but added, “However, data manipulation is evolving into a much more dangerous dimension. Especially with the development of audio and video copying technologies, we face the risk of our ‘perception of reality’ being manipulated. Content that makes people appear to say things they didn’t, and distorts events, will not only threaten individuals but also society's sense of trust and social life.”
‘I have nothing to hide’ is the biggest misconception of the age…
Emphasizing that the idea of “What could happen with my data?” is a great misconception, Hakan Özdemir concluded his words with the following warning:
“The thought ‘I'm not important, I have nothing to hide’ is the biggest misconception of the digital age. Your data alone might seem meaningless, but when combined with the data of millions of people, it is used to direct societal behaviors. Furthermore, individually; your voice, face, or identity information can be copied to commit crimes in your name or to defraud your loved ones. Protecting your data is protecting your ‘self’ and your reputation in the digital world.”