Data Privacy Day – Jan. 28, 2027

Expected Data Privacy Day Deals

Data Privacy Day pivots from traditional deals to vital awareness and educational initiatives. Organizations like the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) lead campaigns promoting best practices for online safety and data protection, often partnering with tech giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft to offer free resources or privacy toolkits. Cybersecurity firms such as IBM Security and CrowdStrike may host webinars or offer discounted services for businesses. Look for non-profits like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to highlight digital rights and privacy legislation. We will update this page with confirmed live resources and educational events as January 28 approaches.

History of Data Privacy Day

The need for data privacy is nothing new or unique to the digital age. Our personal information has been at risk for many decades. Personal data has been collected, manipulated, and shared or sold for decades, then manipulated further for profit by banking institutions, product manufacturers, political parties, nonprofit organizations, ad agencies, polling groups, airlines, grocery stores, credit agencies, and many others. Digital technologies have made the collection of personal data easier, both legally and illegally. And with 4.66 billion people in the world who are active internet users, there is an incalculable amount of unsecured data waiting to be pilfered. 

Data privacy is rarely at the top of anyone’s daily to-do list. It was probably not on your mind when you logged onto your computer, laptop, or mobile phone this morning to check your email, catch the news, check stock prices, and all the other ways we routinely use technology to manage our home- and business affairs. Most of us are guilty of being complacent when it comes to safeguarding our most personal information from unseen but prying eyes. In fact, many people do not understand the difference between data security and data privacy, which may be the reason why so many of us are slack about data privacy.

Data privacy is not the same thing as data security, although the two are intimately connected and intertwined. The analogy we like best that helps understand the difference describes data security like putting bars on windows to make it difficult for someone to burglarize your home. Data privacy is more like pulling down the window shades so no one can look inside to see what you are wearing, who lives with you, what you are cooking for dinner tonight, or what movie you are watching.  

As end-users on the technology spectrum, few among us pay attention to data privacy beyond knowing not to share our passwords with anyone. We trust software and data services providers to be the guardians of the personal data they collect and require from us in exchange for the right to use their products and services. But the personal information collected by companies today is not regarded as private by default, with few exceptions. 

The unpleasant truth is that most people who have access to our personal data do not need it. These digital strangers with legitimate access to our personal data are the very people we should be preventing from accessing our personal information because they do not need it. Data Privacy Day is an important wake-up call for anyone who is ‘on the grid,’ meaning, they use any type of digital device for any reason, and thinks having spam software and firewalls are keeping their data safe. 

Data Privacy Day reminds us to treat personal information like money. It has value and we need to protect it as if our lives depended on it because sometimes they do.

How Businesses Can Celebrate Data Privacy Day