By Christos Zabounis

The recent conviction, for revenge porn, of a former TV presenter to five years in prison, highlights a clear development in the protection of citizens’ personal data. But does this dimension generally apply in the wonderful world of the Internet? A few years ago, we were astonished to read the news of the disclosure of the personal data of 533,000,000 Facebook users by electronic intruders, or, as they are called, hackers. Among them there were 617,722 Greek accounts. It is obvious that data is considered, not unfairly, as the “gold” of the era. They are traded for commercial or even political purposes. How many of us have not wondered, during the pre-election periods, how various candidates with whom we are not connected were contacting us? How many of us didn’t wonder when the president of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, called an emergency cabinet when it was discovered that his mobile phone, as well as that of 14 ministers, was being monitored? As for the “Predator” case in our country, it is obvious.

Therefore, it becomes clear that among the professions of the future, the Digital Security sector occupies a prominent position. However, we also have developments in the technological sector. The appearance on the market of the application App Tracking Transparency by Apple, allows the users of the i-phone and i-pad to refuse to give approval for the recording of their data, thus dooming the Facebook platform, which basically thrives by the commercial utilization of these elements. Oh, the irony! In 2003, when he was still a student at Harvard, the creator of Facebook was accused of violating personal data after he had created a website, Facemash, with photos of his fellow students, without their consent. Then he got away with it. He recently found himself in the eye of the storm when he was ordered to pay $5 billion to settle a lawsuit in exchange for absolving himself of personal liability in his creation’s lack of oversight of personal data.

• Christos Zabounis is the author of the book “Online Savoir-Vivre”