Monday, January 28 was Data Privacy Day. Have you ever wonder how well you are protected – at least on paper – when shopping online or surfing the web?
Well, with a simple click of your mouse you can, thanks to UNCTAD’s Global Cyberlaw Tracker.
The interactive map tracks cyberlaws in the organisation’s 194 member countries, showing who has or has not adopted laws on such issues as e-transactions, consumer protection, data protection and cybercrime. (It also shows if a country has a draft law pending).
“For e-commerce to continue to grow, consumers and businesses must believe they are as protected when they shop online as when they are buying goods in a store,” says Torbjörn Fredriksson, in charge of UNCTAD’s ICT policy section.
“And part of building consumer confidence is putting the necessary legislation in place,” he says. “The cyberlaw tracker helps us identify where laws are lacking so that the UN and other partners can work with governments to build the kind of legal environment ensures online business is secure.”
The map shows, for example, that only 58% of countries report having data protection and privacy laws. And when it comes to laws protection consumers online, the share drops to 52%.
But things appear to be moving in the right direction, with an additional 10% of nations working on draft data privacy legislation, including Brazil – South America’s largest digital market.
The Global Cyberlaw Tracker uses data collected through UNCTAD research and by its partners, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Council of Europe, the International Telecommunication Union, the UN Commission on International Trade Law, the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Africa, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Bank.
