As Covid-19 drives consumers to mobile, data privacy moves up the agenda

Covid-19 has dramatically disrupted the usual flow of commerce, impacting how we shop and manage our money. In a number of countries, online shopping and mobile banking have partly replaced in-person alternatives, fuelled by widespread mobile internet access. But the adoption of these services is not universal: our survey from before the pandemic showed that a significant portion of smartphone owners avoided using such services due to data privacy concerns.

And as illustrated by contemporary debates around the security of Covid-19 contact tracing apps, worries about data security are still rife. With consumers now relying on digital services for shopping and other financial transactions more than ever, the pandemic provides an opportunity for operators, vendors and online service providers to address privacy concerns in order to acquire new users while also building lasting public trust in their services.