January 28 is the Data Protection Day since 2007. The goal of Data Protection Day is to raise awareness of data protection, which may never have been as current as nowadays. The extensive use and processing of personal data is very common in our everyday lives (we use smartphones, smart watches, smart meters, virtual assistants), data may become the real engine of the economy (data-rich markets) and new tools for data analysis are available (e.g. AI). It has utmost importance how data subjects, data controllers and data processors handle this situation.

A major change took place in the EU in 2018, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) became applicable. The emergence of new data protection rules, the prospect of serious sanctions, scandals surrounding data processing, and data breaches (incidents) involving millions of users have placed data protection at the center of attention. Data protection in the global economy is not just a European issue, comprehensive data protection rules are emerging in many countries around the world, and more and more people in the United States are talking about the need of federal data protection regulations.

The protection of personal data is therefore an area that is changing day by day, new phenomena and challenges are emerging with incredible speed. We are facing new challanges and questions, like

• What should privacy look line in the 21st Century?
• Can new phenomena be handled by old solutions (e.g. Big Data vs. data protection rules)?
• How does the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning affect data protection expectations?

The above are just a few of the questions that can determine the discussions on data protection in the near future. In the midst of rapid changes, data controllers can always feel that, in spite of all their efforts, they are unable to meet data protection standards and expectations. Somehow, like the Zeno's paradox:

Suppose Homer wishes to walk to the end of a path. Before he can get there, he must get halfway there. Before he can get halfway there, he must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a quarter, he must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on. (Source: Zeno's Paradoxes)

The above description suggests that an infinite number of tasks should be completed. Although Zeno maintains this as an impossibility, we may regard it a bit more optimistic from the perspective of data protection. The goal is to reduce the distance to the desired state. 

Data protection is not a one-time task, there will always be new tasks, only those are on the right track, who work continously on data protection compliance.