Amendments to PIPEDA as part of legislation to curb spam came into effect April 1, 2011.
Submission from the Interactive Advertising Bureau Of Canada for our 2010 consultations. We’ll continue to blog and tweet written submissions as they are posted.
Late yesterday, Canada’s privacy commissioner, along with data protection authorities from France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom sent a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt to express their concerns about privacy issues related to Google Buzz.
Are we unfairly picking on Google? Because the privacy practices we mention in our letter are not Google’s alone – they are representative of an industry-wide habit of launching first, debugging later. But Google is a world leader, and a company that has shown it is not afraid of jumping into the data protection debate. We hope that our letter sends a message to others in the online world as well – your users care about their privacy.
The full letter and news release are available on our site, but here are some excerpts:
We are increasingly concerned that, too often, the privacy rights of the world’s citizens are being forgotten as Google rolls out new technological applications. We were disturbed by your recent rollout of the Google Buzz social networking application, which betrayed a disappointing disregard for fundamental privacy norms and laws. Moreover, this was not the first time you have failed to take adequate account of privacy considerations when launching new services….
It is unacceptable to roll out a product that unilaterally renders personal information public, with the intention of repairing problems later as they arise. Privacy cannot be sidelined in the rush to introduce new technologies to online audiences around the world.
We’ve asked Google for a response, but we also want to know what you think. Let us know in the comments section, or join us via webcast and Twitter (hashtag #priv2010) at our first public consultation next Thursday, April 29.
Last week, researchers from Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania released a study on young peoples’ attitudes and knowledge when it comes to their privacy. Their study found many similarities between young and older Americans when it came to sensitivity about online privacy, bucking the conventional wisdom that “kids don’t care” about privacy.
Also interesting: Some American youth incorrectly believe laws protect their privacy online and offline more than it actually does. Researchers suggest
This lack of knowledge in a tempting environment, rather than a cavalier lack of concern regarding privacy, may be an important reason large numbers of them engage with the digital world in a seemingly unconcerned manner.
Their report is timely and will provide interesting fodder for our upcoming panel discussion on children’s privacy online next week in Toronto. Be sure to tune in to the webcast next April 29 and join the conversation on Twitter (#priv2010).
Submissions from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) and the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) for our 2010 consultations. We’ll continue to blog and tweet written submissions as they are posted.
Submission from the European NGO Alliance for Child Safety Online for our 2010 consultations. We’ll continue to blog and tweet written submissions as they are posted.
Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s submission to our 2010 consumer privacy consultations. We’ll continue to blog and tweet written submissions as they are posted.
The intersection of geolocational apps and social media has produced…virtual graffiti.
At several American universities, students with cellphones are tagging campus landmarks with comments and labels using location-aware apps like Foursquare. Some universities have found ways to teach through tagging:
“At North Carolina State University, meanwhile, a new library service shows smartphone users historical pictures of campus buildings based on where users are standing, including a snapshot of the first freshman class, from 1890, when the agricultural college’s hot mobile technology was horses.”
And students have found, er, innovative ways to tag spots around campus – one of the deans at the University as at Dallas discovered his office had been tagged in Foursquare with the comment “Watch out for lame jokes!”
The ability to virtually tag places, things and people isn’t new, but it does create challenges when it comes to managing our identities online – who owns that material? Foursquare? The tagger? The person tagged? Right now, the responsibility is in the hands of the tagged – for instance, look at the care university students take in reviewing, and untagging when necessary, photos of themselves that get posted to Facebook after a particularly spectacular weekend.
Is this likely to change? Probably not – online as in offline, we should all know what face we’re putting forward.
“Making Sense of Privacy and Publicity”, danah boyd’s keynote at SXSW
This post, by co-op student Erin Siksay, is cross-posted from our youth blog.
I searched myself online the other day and came up with a profile I had created some years ago, complete with picture and date of birth, name, and e-mail address. So many websites require at least some personal information in order to view exclusive content or enjoy the services provided by the website, it gets difficult keeping track of all the websites I’ve signed up for. Inevitably, some end up being neglected or forgotten. Then, years later, they pop up when I’m feeling bored (and perhaps narcissistic) and searching myself online.
I had the website e-mail me my username and password so I could delete the account (and all of its revealing information) from their server so it wouldn’t appear in the search engine queue. (Luckily I’ve used the same e-mail address for many years). If you find yourself in the same situation but with an unknown or expired e-mail address, you can always write to the moderators or developers of the website and request that your profile be taken down or removed.
You may be selective with what information you put into an online profile, but with lots of profiles online it can become difficult to keep track of exactly what personal information is available on the web. One website might require a postal code, another a birthdate. Pieced together, these separate profiles can reveal a lot about the user. This combined profile can then be used for targeted marketing or even more malicious purposes.
Make sure your profile doesn’t come back to haunt you.
March is Fraud Prevention Month. Throughout the month of March, every day, the OPC will be highlighting a fraud prevention tip on Twitter. You can also learn more about identity theft here.
