A few dedicated OPC staffers spend much of their time visiting schools and talking to young people about why privacy is important. If you believe a popular line of thinking, privacy may seem to be a lost cause in the age of online social networking and “anything goes” disclosure. We who talk to youth on a regular basis, however, are always pleasantly surprised that a generation that is growing up online shows such interest and enthusiasm about protecting their information. It’s nice when research findings reflect our day-to-day observations that many young people are in fact proactive about protecting their online privacy.
Over the course of the year, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is hosting consultations with Canadians on issues that pose a serious challenge to privacy. In an attempt to learn more about the privacy implications of new industries, the focus of the consultations has been on online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers, and the increasing prevalence of cloud computing.
Louise is a central character in our upcoming Consumer Privacy Consultations - not because of her great hair, but because she's engaged online the way many Canadians are...she buys clothing and books online, she updates her Facebook profile regularly, she's got an iPhone.
Once again, students from the Encounters with Canada program have selected the winners of our annual student video contest! Here are the winners for our 2009 competition:
The combination of microblogging services like Twitter and location-aware social networking games on your mobile device like Foursquare is like the Red Bull and vodka of the internet — it’s one big party until your great-aunt’s end table is smashed.
On Data Privacy 2010 we’d like to take a moment to remind everyone that is the responsibility of both individuals and companies to make sure that personal information is safe.
Do your loved ones have toys on their wish lists this holiday? A stuffed animal for a little one… a cell phone or a camera for a teen? These days, these toys and gadgets are more than they used to be. Just a few years ago a stuffed animal was something to cuddle with and a phone was, well, just a phone! Now, many stuffed animals come with codes that allow kids to register them online so that they can play games, feed and care for them, and even chat and play with other kids. And many cellphones are phones, computers and cameras, all in one.
It’s also the 20th anniversary of the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child. A significant milestone, this made privacy a basic human right for everyone under the age of eighteen.
