1.2 Online Privacy
When was the last time you were asked to “Accept Cookies”? Probably today. The tracking of our digital lives through cookies, web analytics, social media platforms and employer apps is multiplying day-by-day. What are cookies, anyway? (Keep reading to find the answer!)
Privacy is a “hot-topic” that spans the realms of both our physical and digital lives; it is also incredibly complex and multifaceted. You may find it down-right elusive. This is often because what one person considers private information, another may willingly share with a large circle of friends or even strangers; particularly on social media.
While digital information-sharing provides countless opportunities for community-building, collaboration and education, the broad disclosure of personal information can have potentially damaging effects. At the very least, indiscriminate personal information-sharing may increase the circulation of email spam. More seriously, comprehensive exchanges of information may cause some individuals loss of critical health, employment, educational, or financial benefits. At its most damaging, publication of personal information on the Internet can, and has, stigmatized vulnerable individuals, tarnished or destroyed reputations, terminated careers and even caused some people the loss of their jobs, family or identity.
In British Columbia, there are two primary information privacy laws: the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). These laws set out the minimum standards that employers, employees and service providers (including College instructors) must follow to prevent unreasonable, unnecessary or unsafe sharing of personal information belonging to staff, clients, customers and the general public. BC has some of the strongest personal privacy laws in Canada and arguably one of the best in the world, alongside Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Clearly, protecting privacy is a serious issue and should be considered carefully by individuals, groups and organizations planning to use digital technology with the capacity for widespread distribution or storage of personal information. With this in mind, governments across Canada over the last decade have introduced and revised information privacy laws to ensure enhanced protection of personal information.
Knowing why privacy is important and how to protect yourself are the best possible tools for preventing privacy breaches. As Edward Snowden puts it: “Without privacy you don’t have anything for yourself.”
Specifically in the context of maintaining an online presence, there are two main privacy concerns: “transactional” privacy and content ownership business owners must consider.
Transactional Privacy
“Transactional” privacy is the privacy of meta data that identifies individuals or their computers (e.g. IP addresses) and what they access online, when, for how long and with whom. Meta data refers to data that