Data Protection Day is an international day of action launched by the Council of Europe in 2008 and held annually on January 28 since then.

The year it is accompanied by the Data Privacy Week from 24 to 28 of January, culminating in Data Privacy Day. The aim is to raise public awareness of privacy protection in the digital space and to encourage Internet users to exercise their right to privacy.

This date was chosen because on January 28, 1981, the Council of Europe opened for signature "Convention 108," which was the first internationally binding agreement on the protection of personal data and can be considered the precursor to the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

Since 2008, a wide variety of organizations, educational institutions, and businesses have used this occasion to advocate for consistent data protection and to highlight the inherent dangers of systematic data collection by tech corporations and government agencies.

On the one hand, privacy is a fundamental human right that has intrinsic value. For another, it is an indispensable cornerstone of democratic societies. And last but not least, it is completely unforeseeable what conclusions about individuals will be possible in the future with the help of the immense amounts of data and new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Here on my blog, I try to be transparent, which means I am open and honest about my non use of personal data. I do not use cookies, I use advertiser without tracking and my Analytics Platform Ghostboard uses an embed API that does not use or read cookies. I support the action and try to set a sign for data protection! Likewise, I put a #RegainPrivacy banner on my profile pictures. How about you showing your environment that you reject mass surveillance by authorities and marketing of user data by tech giants.