Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Ever wondered how much your personal data are worth in the open market? Are you even aware that your personal data are being traded by and between companies and may be easily bought by criminals? Well, be assured that there is a price tag on your data.
If you take a look at the
Swipe Toolkit Data Calculator, you will see the value of each piece of personal data. According to this tool, a date of birth is worth US$2.00 in the open market, while a postal address is worth US$9.95. Now, imagine how much your personal data is worth in total? According to
Ezine Articles, the price of personal data has dropped in the recent years. This only means access to your data is becoming increasingly easy; your identity is very highly likely to be stolen.
The general public fail to see that their personal data is priceless, and what are the consequences for not safeguarding their data. Identity theft has become a rampant crime (it is no longer a matter of "if it happens to you" but "when it happens to you"), and does not take an intelligent hacker to profile a person. The problem lies in the lack of education given to the public about identity theft, and that their personal data is the weapon in this crime. By not protecting our data we are aiding these criminals - can you blame these criminals when your identity is stolen?
The government and the media play an important role in creating awareness in the public on these matters, as well as educating them on the importance of protecting their privacy; how they should do so; and the technologies around that are used to monitor and to gain access to their data. The BBC is to be commended on its new programme calledWho's Watching You? that investigates surveillance in the United Kingdom. Programmes such as these raise awareness that we are being watched, and make us value our privacy and the protection of our personal data for sad to say, our personal data is not so private.
So, the key point here is that the public must be educated on the value of their personal data, and organisations such as the Privacy Commission and the media ought to play an active role. Unfortunately, the current situation in Belgium is such that privacy is the last thing on anyone's mind. Try calling your phone company and find out how it protects the personal data it collects from you. Look at a website and see if there is a privacy statement available - it is after all, the first positive step towards upholding your privacy. You will find very few are concerned about the proper handling of personal data. Nevertheless, hopefully, you will enforce your right and put the necessary pressure on those who handle your personal data to take care of it. It begins with you.
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