Privacy class-action lawsuits to grow 300% in 2020: Forrester

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) With the focus on data privacy growing across the world, privacy class-action lawsuits will increase by 300 per cent in 2020, warns a forecast by market research firm Forrester.

The coming year will be a bad year for third-party data and a good year for marketers who take consumer privacy seriously, said the “Predictions 2020” report.

“Consumers are deeply concerned with how their data is collected and used. A barrage of news about data breaches, government surveillance, and corporate misconduct has soured consumer sentiment on current data practices,” said the report.

“The backlash has begun, and more people are taking active measures to protect their privacy,” it added.

Curbing reliance on third-party data will help some marketers get ahead of the curve next year.

“Big tech firms such as Apple and Mozilla are providing consumers with new tools that shut out data collection. Anti-surveillance startups will receive funding,” said the report.

The report also predicts that organisations will shift 10 per cent of their budget to influencer marketing.

In 2020, ransomware incidents will grow as attackers learn that holding data hostage is a quick path to monetisation.

These attackers will target consumer devices (and consumers) to the detriment of device manufacturers — demanding ransom from the manufacturer after notifying its affected customers that it’s up to the manufacturer to “fix this issue.”

Attackers will use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance existing attacks using the tremendous amounts of data now available to them.

“AI technologies like natural language generation and video AI will be used to generate fake audio and video designed to fool users; as a result, deepfakes alone will cost businesses over a quarter of a billion dollars,” according to the predictions.