Safe data?

I think we can all agree that all data is safe . . . until it’s hacked.  I’m sure that Yahoo, Dropbox, Equifax and Target all thought their infrastructure was safe . . . until they experienced epic hacks in 2016 and 2017.
Earlier this week, the Alibaba Group stated that ‘the data stored in the centre will be owned by the Macau Government and be under local legislation. Alibaba Cloud is responsible for the technical construction of the smart technology platform, but we do not have access to the data or individual Macau resident information’.
Back in August, the Alibaba Group signed an agreement with local authorities to turn Macau into a Smart City in two phases by 2021 – but after concerns by some local government parties, it was confirmed that data generated by Macau would not be made publicly available to Greater China.
Smart City technology can be really exciting – including smart transportation, smart tourism, smart healthcare and smart city governance, as well as human resources talent – but the data needed to generate the intelligence can be incredibly revealing.
People share sensitive information in emails on the Internet using websites like Dropbox and Yahoo and feel completely safe when they read the terms and agreements.  I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, felt safe creating a LinkedIn account, but when his password was hacked last year along with thousands of other people it became a worldwide notice that everyone should be more aware of what information they enter online.
No-one wants their information hacked but in reality do we really review all websites’ terms and agreements that carefully?
Everyone faces the risk that data can be hacked anytime; but at some point, we must analyse what terms we agree to disclose versus what data improves our lives. Where is the line where we decide if Smart City data hacks are good or bad?  If Bus 25 returns to Hac Sa Beach because data shows that there is a major demand or wait time for this transport is astronomical, many could be pleased.  If what we search for while on the bus is hacked, this in turn could be very scary.
Regardless, it is time that every person decide what personal data is truly important and what piece of information should never be placed online. We are all at risk and if 2016 and 2017 have taught us one thing it is that no-one’s data is safe.