* By Rodolfo Fücher
The World Economic Forum in 2017, stated that the world is entering the fourth industrial revolution, also called “Digital Transformation”, among other designations, in which, in a simplistic way, the convergence of the real world with the virtual occurs, where data become to be the main vector of this revolution, such as steam, electricity, oil, steel, among others, went to past industrial revolutions.
Faced with this scenario, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently stated that digital transformation may be one of the main drivers for the resumption of growth in the Brazilian economy. The reason is simple: Brazil has about 160 million internet users, it is between the 4th and the 5th largest market in the world, practically tied with Indonesia and according to a HootSuite report for 2020, Brazil also stands out in the scenario worldwide, as a society with significant virtual activity, it is the 2nd in time of connection in the internet, 3rd in number of users of Youtube, 4th in Instagram and Linkedln and 5th in Twitter. Brazil is the first in terms of using applications for food delivery, with a penetration of 66.6%, while the world average is 55.5%, generating a turnover of US $ 3.3 billion. Another highlight is e-banking, with a penetration of 57%, while the world is at 38.7%. The report also points to a movement of US $ 58 billion in digital payment methods.
Another important factor that has contributed to the affirmation of the OECD was an article from the World Economic Forum, which points to Brazil as one of the 5 startup hubs to be observed beyond Silicon Valley, together with Israel, known worldwide as “Startup nation“. And here is more information to validate this context, according to Distrito Dataminer, Brazilian startups received about US $ 3.5 billion in contributions last year, amounting 17% higher than 2019.
To get an idea of the potential of this new economy, called “Gig Economy“Created by the app ecosystem, such as Uber, iFood, Airbnb, among others, it is responsible for generating some kind of income for 57 million Americans, which represents 36% of US workers.
However, all this opportunity is directly related to the intense use of data and may be more or less vigorous, depending on the skill of the ANPD and other bodies involved, in ensuring with extreme common sense and transparency in its activities, with clear and objective recommendations. , the defense of data protection with legal certainty for citizens and organizations, mainly in the application of the sanctions provided for in the LGPD, thus avoiding the trivialization of indemnity actions, which burden the Brazil cost, prevent investments and inhibit innovations, stifling all this potential.
The dimension of the dilemma regarding the appropriate applicability of LGPD, can be explained by the study by the Clark School at the University of Maryland, which points to the occurrence of a hacker attack every 39 seconds, and according to Forbes, an average of 30 thousand new sites are racked every day. Worst of all, according to McAfee, more than 65 million new malware was created in the first quarter of 2019 alone. This challenging scenario has led IBM President and CEO Ginni Rometty to say that cybercrime is the biggest threat for all companies in the world.
There is no doubt that the best defense is to stay informed and learn from the best privacy and cybersecurity practices. And the main role of the ANPD should be to define these best practices and educate the market, but due to a mismatch between the legislative and the executive, we run the risk of not having enough time to do it properly, before the entry into force of the penalties in August of that year.
According to the LGPD ABES / EY Index , we have a great challenge ahead, only 40% of the companies are prepared to meet the new rules defined by the LGPD. Also according to this index, it is estimated that 28.5% of the companies have suffered some violation in the last 2 years. When we cut by size, companies with more than 500 employees, the breach rate rises to 42%. Another major challenge is the cost of implementing governance in data protection, IDC estimates that companies are expected to invest around US $ 1.9 billion in consulting, security, updating and systems adequacy during 2021, to meet requirements of the LGPD.
Society is in a dilemma: on the one hand you have the data that fuels the new economy, the digital transformation, but on the other hand you have one of the biggest challenges, cybercrime. This reminds me of the speech of John F. Kennedy during a speech at Rice University, in 1962, in which he mentions that technology has no conscience, but the human being who develops it, and obviously the application that will be given to it, depends on him. humanity's good or not. This Kennedy speech was also very well remembered by Microsoft President Brad Smith at the opening of the Consumer Electronic Show in January this year. In other words, everyone has a responsibility to protect the privacy and security of data: whoever develops it, who uses it, the private sector, the government and society as a whole.
* Rodolfo Fücher is president of ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies)
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