February 2020

Everything you do online leaves a trace, but that doesn’t make it something to be feared. As ever, knowledge is key, and as scandals such as one involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica break, and then wash over us, we find out a little more about what will become (if it isn’t there already) one of the major and recurring themes of this century: how our data is collected and used. The more we know about how that process works, the more we can assess the actual risks accurately, and enjoy the huge benefits of digital living while not falling prey to the obvious problems.

Connect plays its part this month in that process, by devoting one of our main features (Unplugged, on page 14) to the subject of how our data is being harvested and used for purposes of which we might not be aware - having only clicked ‘yes’ on a privacy or cookie policy which no one actually reads anyway.

Since then the ramifications of that decision have been accruing across the internet, with countless companies now quite legally being able to analyse and share our data - and we may never be aware of the implications of that, for good or ill, or something in-between.

Now a Jersey-based company, Revoke, is using modern data protection legislation, allied to their own technology, to put the power back in our hands, quite literally - and ironically - through our mobiles.

And as a way of pushing Jersey way ahead in terms of the onus it places on protecting our data, they will be offering their service, to local subscribers, for free.

That is just one positive local business which Connect will be sharing this year, with many others coming from our new partnership with the Jersey Chamber of Commerce. In this edition, and all the others of 2020, you will find a special Chamber section (page 53) which details the work being done to promote the interests of local businesses, as they drive the island’s economy. Connect is proud to be a part of that this year.

Finally, as an example of those great local stories, in this edition we profile Sangan Island Conservation on page 26 - a really good example of how looking after the planet really does start at home.

Enjoy Connect.