There was much ado about this report being leaked/hacked a little early, however, it does make for some interesting reading. In particular, what the commissioner sees as the "top 10" areas for concern for privacy, namely:
- Lack of proper procedures in public and private sector bodies to limit access by their employees to our personal data on a ‘need to know’ basis.
- The interaction of the security agenda with our everyday lives as evidenced by increasing requirements for us to hand over our data and for those holding it to keep it and give it to law enforcement when required to do so.
- The extended use of the Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). This is the number given to each one of us by the Government to identify us during certain interactions with public bodies. More and more services are seeking to use this identifying number and plans are afoot to require the private sector to collect it for certain transactions with all of us also. It therefore becomes easier for databases to be linked together.
- Excessive personal data being sought in the context of international travel.
- The collection and retention of excessive amounts of personal data. Data controllers need to seek and retain only what they really need to perform a service or task.
- Publication and availability of personal data on the internet (sometimes placed there by the individuals themselves on social networking sites etc).
- The exploitation of mobile phone numbers for marketing purposes.
- The increasing and unthinking use of biometrics in the workplace (and even in schools).
- Continued lack of awareness among data controllers of their data protection obligations.
- Continued lack of awareness and complacency on the part of members of the general public - giving away our personal information too easily, not asking why the information is needed or ticking the box to say that we don’t want to be contacted.
Some interesting food for thought for anyone involved with databases containing personal data.
The full report is available here: http://www.dataprotection.ie/documents/annualreports/AR2007En.pdf