It is expected that the sphere of data feeding the internet of things (IoT) will reach 75 billion devices in the next five years. That’s close to ten connected devices per human, and a threefold increase on the install base of 2018. This growing connectedness naturally feeds anxieties around how this data will be used to influence consumers.
In the face of major data leaks, it is natural that consumers may become more tech-averse as its intricacies operate ever more out of their own hands. In the UK, 43% of businesses identified an attack or security breach in 2020. It is incumbent on developers to assuage these concerns on the user end to avoid the risk of genuinely worthy and value-adding innovations being overlooked.
A 2022 consumer data privacy report by the Data & Marketing Association found that the majority of UK consumers (69%) had high levels of online privacy concerns. Less than half (46%) identified as ‘data pragmatists’, meaning a willingness to provide their personal data to businesses so long as there is a clear benefit in return....