Mary Meeker's 2016 Internet Trends Report

Data Privacy

Meeker's report wraps up with a close look at data privacy, a topic that gets more attention as we become more aware of the risks that come with the benefits of living our lives online.


Concerns about data privacy have made a significant number of people limit their online activity, Meeker reports, where surveys show nearly three-quarters of respondents say they have done so.


People's concerns are largely focused on data selling, storage, access, and being identified individually, areas that attracted majority concerns in the surveys Meeker cites.


Will this picture of concern change or improve? Change, to be sure, but it's hard to be highly confident of improvement that diminishes those concerns.

I think much comes down to trust – who do you trust to safeguard your data and personal information? Recognise the dynamic and rapidly-shifting nature of this huge landscape upon which we travel. It used to be that, if you wanted to be wholly happy about such things, then don't go online. Very hard to see that as a common-sense approach to life or business today and certainly not tomorrow.