January 28, was Data Privacy day.  This is the one day a year that we are reminded how valuable our data is. We should protect it like we protect our money.  However, account providers regularly change their privacy policies, settings and terms and conditions which makes that challenging.

When account providers make those types of changes, they sent out a notification email or we see a popup appear when we login to our account. Both are annoying and both require us to acknowledge we are aware of the changes before we can use their service. When we receive that notification we usually don’t have time to wade through the legalese to find the changes, we just click accept and move on with our day.

Data Privacy Day is a great time to take a pause and check those changes.  Check both the terms and conditions and privacy settings. That way you know what data the account provider has access to and how much control you have over it.  While this is a pain, taking a few minutes to check things now can save a lot of heartache later.  In addition, if you are not comfortable with the changes it gives you an opportunity to let the account provider know and if necessary find a new service.