WISCONSIN — The fight for consumer rights when it comes to owning your personal data.  

The pandemic has accelerated the conversation with more people now online and their information possible targets for hackers.

Dennis Hill, President of Wisconsin-based Exacta Corp., pointed out "[...] There is definitely an interest, more than a casual interest, these days in having your information protected. As we know, we can read in the news daily about breaks, breaches and loss of information. So this is at a point now where it's been moved from the backburner for most people to a front burner issue."

Hill said data ownership has been an ambiguous term, especially in the law and here in the U.S. The closest solution went into effect a year ago with the California Consumer Privacy Act

Personal data is anything that's personally identifying to you, that you may have entered into your computer, or was entered into a computer system, over the last 20-30 years. 

Wisconsin looked at the issue just before the coronavirus pandemic hit. 

"There was a big movement with three different laws going through the state legislature all of which were basically I guess 'abandoned' is a good word [...] they never came out of committee," Hill said.

Breaches happen largely because all of the data is on centralized databases and has been for decades. That's an easy target for hackers and prime for data mining and other abuses.

He said new technology will offer more protection. 

"We're living at a point now that's technologically advanced and will revolutionize what we understand the internet to be with the introduction of 5G communications and Blockchain Technology," he said.

Blockchain Technology breaks the data into billions of pieces, codes each piece, and then spreads it across the cloud making it impenetrable to hacking.

With an increase in this technology and security protocols associated with 5G networks coming out, Hill believes,  "[...] We see a lot of this that will change the way in which we communicate both digitally and visually for the future."