What is Being Done to Protect Your Privacy?

While government agencies are submitted to legal requirements that protect your personal information, other businesses are not. This makes it vitally important to take steps protecting your information yourself and knowing who has it and what they are doing with it.

State laws do have requirements for the disposal of personal records but the manner of disposal can vary depending on the nature of the information and the resources available to the business. If you do business which requires you to keep personal information on record you must check with local law regarding the disposal of these records.

Fair Information Practice Principles

While the law is still catching up to the needs of individual privacy protection, Europe, Canada and the USA have created a guideline of processes for collecting and using personal information. This guide is called the ‘Fair Information Practice Principles’. It outlines the safeguards necessary to ensure the use of personal information is fair and to protect privacy.

The core principles outlined in the Fair Information Practice Principles are: Notice/Awareness; Choice/Consent; Access/Participation; Integrity/Security; and Enforcement/Redress. Here is a brief outline of these principles:

Notice/Awareness
Notice and awareness requires businesses requesting personal information to disclose their information practices before collecting information. The following principles listed would be included in the notice.

Choice/Consent
Choice and consent give the individual the ability to allow or restrict the use of personal information beyond the transaction being initiated. Opt-in or opt-out choices include how much personal information is included and what it may be used for.

Access/Participation
Access and participation requires the individual to be able to access, correct or verify their personal information on record. The means of accessing and making corrections must be timely and inexpensive.

Integrity/Security
Integrity and security refer to the business’ steps to maintain accurate records, secure the information and destroy records in an appropriate manner.

Enforcement/Redress
Enforcement and redress must be established either by self-regulation or legislation.

The full report of Fair Information Practice Principles can be found at:
http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy3/fairinfo.htm.

While steps are being made to create enforcement it is up to the individual to be aware of the use and protection provided by each business and agency they provide personal information to.