Visit privacyrights.org to see the types of publicly available information about data breaches. How might researchers use this information to study breaches? Enter a paragraph in your journal.

The website privacyrights.org is a repository of information dedicated to navigating and reporting the data privacy laws for the average person. As part of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, they believe in an equitable future where data privacy is a human right. With the site dedicated to understanding and navigating the vastness of the law, having a one-stop-shop of information enables researchers to distill information and compile records and trend analysis to better understand the motives of the hackers or even potential breaches.

After navigating the site, it is clear that the curators are incredibly detailed and organized. They revamped their data breach chronology page to facilitate functionality and visualization. The resources page has clear tabs for three main topics: Law, Reports, and Advocacy. With a few clicks, finding the specific topic of research is readily available. Privacyrights.org should have better signal boosting as it is a fantastic resource not only for researchers, but the lay person.

However, this information is not without its faults as I believe this is a double-edged sword, to an extent, that gives bad actors insight into the trends as well. One specific article Mobile Health and Fitness Apps details how vulnerable a person’s information is while using the program. A hacker might not have considered this angle to be a viable threat vector but given the statistics, it opens possibilities. Again, this site requires better visibility and timeliness so consumers may take sensible actions to protect their data.