Data Privacy Day

Data Privacy Day History

Data Privacy Day is an international effort aimed at raising awareness and promoting privacy and data protection best practices. This important day originates from the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, signed on January 28, 1981, to set privacy standards for data shared across borders.

The United States began recognizing Data Privacy Day in 2008 and it is now led by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). The focus of this event is to empower individuals and business to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust. It encourages internet users to consider the privacy implications of their online actions, highlighting the protection of personal information as everyone's responsibility.

Given the rise of cyber crimes and data breaches, Data Privacy Day has grown in relevance. It equips people with the tools and information they need to protect their digital footprint. Data Privacy Day is marked by a number of events, webinars and resources to draw attention to the cause, foster dialogue and create a culture of privacy awareness. Every year, on January 28th, the day serves to reinforce the need for vigilance in protecting personal information in the digital age. Data Privacy Day is observed annually on January 28th.

Top 10 Facts for Data Privacy Day in 2026

• The official theme for the upcoming observance is Take control of your data, a call to action encouraging individuals to actively manage their digital footprints and understand how their personal information is leveraged by corporations.
• This year marks a critical turning point for global regulation as the EU AI Act reaches full applicability, imposing strict transparency requirements and human oversight mandates for high-risk artificial intelligence systems.
• Privacy advocates are highlighting the massive 16 Billion Passwords Leak from the past year, which aggregated stolen credentials from platforms like Google and Meta, as a primary reason for users to adopt multi-factor authentication.
• A significant cultural driver for privacy discussions is the anticipated release of The Social Reckoning, a cinematic follow-up to the tech-focused drama The Social Network that explores the modern ethical consequences of the attention economy.
• Recent studies indicate that over 50 percent of consumers are now specifically concerned about the lifestyle data collected by wearable devices, such as health metrics and physical location patterns, which are often shared with third-party advertisers.
• The professional landscape has shifted so rapidly that nearly 70 percent of privacy officers now report that managing AI governance is a core part of their daily responsibilities alongside traditional data protection.
• Legal experts are closely monitoring the expansion of the UK Data Use and Access Act, which aims to simplify digital identity verification while introducing new standards for how personal data is utilized in scientific and commercial research.
• Foundational academic works such as On Privacy and Technology by Daniel Solove are being widely cited this year for providing a new framework to address the "privacy paradox," where individuals express concern for their data but frequently trade it for digital convenience.
• In the United States, the number of states with comprehensive privacy legislation has reached 20, creating a complex patchwork of regulations that grants millions of citizens new rights to delete, correct, and port their personal information.
• Education initiatives this week are focusing on the Right to Be Forgotten, providing technical guides on how individuals can request the permanent removal of outdated or sensitive personal details from search engine results and social media archives.

In the News and Trending for Data Privacy Day

Top things to do for Data Privacy Day

• Make sure your data is secure. A few ways to ensure your data is protected is by using two-factor authentication, using different passwords, and by using a VPN. You can learn more about VPNs Here.
• Reevaluate your password strength. If you have used the same password for years, consider updating it or changing it to something new. Use phrases or sentences, or even a random password generator. Be sure to write down your new password somewhere so you don't forget it.
• Watch a film about data breaches and data security to better understand the risk involved. Here are our suggestions:
  The Great Hack (2019)
  Anon (2018)
  Zero Days (2016)