Posts tagged personal data
It’s NOT “just a number!”
Jan 26th
by Ann Cavoukian
I am becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of understanding of a key privacy issue – the ease of data linkages in an ever-increasingly online world, that renders otherwise non-identifiable information, identifiable.
Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario
New analytic tools and algorithms now make it possible, not only to link a number with an identifiable individual, but also to combine information from multiple sources, ultimately creating a detailed personal profile of a personally-identifiable individual.
In this information age, people are sharing personal information about themselves in new ways, including through personal blogs and social networking sites. Imagine a scenario where your “anonymous” comments on a newspaper website or in an online chat forum could be tracked back to you personally, simply by linking your IP address and browser data across multiple platforms. Read the rest of this entry »
Ambassadors are meeting today’s privacy challenges, head-on
Sep 11th
I recently appeared on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper with an alarming prediction. “World is losing grip on privacy says watchdog – Next decade will be crucial in protecting privacy” rang out the headline.
Ann Cavoukian
I was speaking at the International Conference on Privacy, Security and Trust at the University of Ottawa, and my message was that we need to reframe and look at privacy through a new lens, if we expect to enjoy privacy as we know it, into the next decade.
In my two decades as a privacy professional, I would say that the biggest impact on how we think about privacy has come from the explosive growth of information and communications technologies – more specifically, the rise of online social networking and the growing reliance on wireless transmission and mobile devices such as laptops, cell phones, PDA’s and USB keys. The IT revolution not only brought about a myriad of advancements, resulting in everyday benefits to society, but it also gave birth to an entirely new catalogue of privacy concerns. Read the rest of this entry »
