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"From Heartbleed to the NSA, there are a lot of headlines these days about privacy \u2014\u00A0and whether we even have much of it left to protect. What we know for sure is that consumers are giving away a lot of information (especially online), and they're starting to wonder how safe it really is.\nSee also: The Heartbleed Hit List: The Passwords You Need to Change Right Now\nThe big question is, will consumers soon demand more from the businesses they frequent (online and off)? How will that impact the way we work?\u00A0I asked a panel of 10 successful founders to predict what impact privacy concerns will have on entrepreneurs. Their answers are below:\n1. Cookie concerns\nIn Europe there is a much stronger concern about using tracking cookies to monitor user behavior than currently in the U.S. If this becomes a worldwide change, it will create some challenges for startups that rely heavily on analytics/tracking data to make key decisions. Data crunching will still be a huge focus for startups, but some of the technology may have to change.\u2014 Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes\n2. No major impact\nIf you look at recent polls, the majority of people seem to accept a degree of encroachment on their privacy. Where is the outward public outcry (i.e. protests) against the NSA, Patriot Act and other acts that diminish privacy? It's just not there in any big way. That being said, it will be interesting to see if this sentiment changes in the coming years as big data mashups combine with advancements in technology to give anyone the ability to quickly know everything about you. It's scary to think how much information we've offered up about ourselves through personal profiles in the past 10 years that will soon be made more public.\u2014 Janis Krums, OPPRTUNITY\n3. Government intervention on privacy Laws\n Privacy is a growing concern for all Americans. Because of the growing concerns, we may see a lot more privacy action coming from the government. This can turn into laws that will have major implications for how startups can access data, etc.\u2014 Pablo Palatnik, ShadesDaddy.com\n4. Less consumer information\nConsumers are starting to hesitate when asked to provide more information about themselves, which hinders products and services from becoming more personalized to their needs. The concern over privacy unfortunately hinders consumer experience; those of us in the tech field must take safeguards and provide information to bring back privacy confidence.\u2014 Phil Chen, Givit\n5. Healthcare-specific concerns\n Many consumers in the healthcare industry live a new reality of activity trackers and post daily progress on social media. However, for many health-tech startups, an understanding of HIPAA is really important. Many customers seem concerned, but also vague on what those concerns are. Speaking to a company that knows its stuff goes a long way in providing them comfort on the matter. With the implementation of EMR/EHR systems and information becoming available electronically, consumers are hesitant to sign up on many platforms due to potential marketing spam. It's on the tech startups to set parameters around what is useful information to the customer to build trust over time.\u2014 Shradha Agarwal, ContextMedia\n6. Private and public information-sharing forums\nHuman beings will always seek both private and public forums to share information with one another. But as oversharing becomes the norm, apps that anonymize your data and allow you to share, such as Secret or Shadow, will be favored in the market.\u2014 Rameet Chawla, Fueled\n7. Consumer control of their own data\nConsumers will favor those companies that are transparent with what is being done with their data. The concept of \u201Cconsumer as owner\u201D when dealing with PII puts the consumer in the driver seat and tools such as OAuth at the forefront. Any company that incorporates these types of measures will build trust with their users and will likely mitigate the regulatory and legislative issues surrounding privacy when growing globally.\u2014 Stephen Ufford, Trulioo\n8. Additional insight for companies\n I think consumers being concerned about their privacy will help companies, especially startups, be more aware of the way they handle the PII of their customers. This will benefit the consumer obviously, but it will also prove to be a very important aspect of any technology company\u2019s operations.\u2014 Daniel Wesley, DebtConsolidation.com\n9. Increased challenges for advertisers\nPrivacy is important. It may become increasingly more challenging for advertisers and advertising technology companies to get permission to send targeted advertisements to consumers. Fear of being targeted will lead to increased demands for privacy, and it's up to entrepreneurs in the online advertising space to address those concerns.The industry has been making great strides in ensuring all data collected is anonymous and private, so I believe as an industry we will create a comfortable atmosphere for consumers to feel protected.\u2014 Michael Seiman, CPXi\n10. Apps that don't store users' data\nWhatsApp and Snapchat have proved you don't need to retain users' message data on your servers. In fact, it's a competitive advantage that they don't. There are fewer security concerns, and as a bonus, their storage costs and headaches are trivial. What other types of apps are well suited to ephemeral storage? Startups that can simply transfer the data to devices and not store it on their servers in the long term will have an edge in their industry.\u2014 Jared Brown, Hubstaff"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/06/04/consumer-privacy-concerns-impact-businesses/>