Take control of your personal data

Your personal data is like a gold mine. As suggested by Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO: “The human challenge is to regain control on the data, to give them a meaning.”

Indeed, digital data management is one of the biggest challenges of this century, and personal data is at the heart of these issues, particularly on social media.

Even though social media keep on evolving and introducing new features, they have two major pitfalls. On the one hand, you have very varied contacts and relationships (family, friends, colleagues …) on the same platform. On the other hand, we know that data shared on social media are not protected enough, even if they have made their privacy policies evolve. The idea would be to reclaim the data you are exchanging with people previously defined by you.

Thus, you do not send your holiday pictures to your boss or your next-door neighbor. You shall not communicate on your professional life on a social media dealing with personal aspects, and vice versa, it’s complicated to put personal information on your LinkedIn account. To protect your private data, be sure to partition your information by using your own private network: share your family photos on a Facebook group that you have created for your extended family, create a LinkedIn group on topics that interest you. Photos issues will thus remain in this tight circle and at no time members of other spheres will access your personal pictures. Your data are thus less at risk.

By separating the spheres, so you exploit your favorite social media by controlling the data you share, to whom and in what context you issue them.

For example, one can create on Facebook an alumni network without the members of one’s family to be impacted. The social network in question could even be used for all purposes: work, social life, family, friendships, etc … This does not only limit data sharing but will rather multiply the information you want to share, sending them to the appropriate “sphere”.

The saying implying that if it something is free, you’re the product has never been so true. Web giant companies offer indeed more free services online and their users’ data are thus exploited in exchange. Facing these challenges, web users are organizing themselves to defend themselves. Thus, more and more people are using ad-blockers software. While 21 million Internet users were using them worldwide in 2010, they would now be 198 million. Users became suspicious indeed and are more aware of the value and scope of their personal data. They wish to take control and better exploit all the potential of their personal data.

The last key point of controlling one’s digital life is about permanent data deletion. Each data deleted from a social media will actually be permanently eradicated from the Internet. You probably remember Facebook “deleted” pictures which were still remaining accessible three years after deletion: this should happen anymore now and shall no more be tolerated by Internet users.

Take total control of your personal data, by using a VPN. This way, you shall be able to hide your IP address and surf anonymously. You can use search engines, social media and all the sites of your choice, without fearing that your data may be used and exploited without your knowledge and without being exposed to all these advertisements you dislike.

Le VPN is the best VPN, even when you are using an unprotected Wi-Fi access. Thus, Le VPN encrypts your Internet connection with a powerful military encryption that no one can hack, even if you are using public Wi-Fi networks which can be found in airports, train stations, cafes and other hotspots.

With Le VPN, you can access all the freedom and all the potential offered by the Internet.