Do you ever feel as though your digital identity has run off without you? Today’s European Data Protection Day, so maybe it’s time to take control – or are you happy to leave identity breadcrumbs all over the internet?
Have you ever received annoying promotional material and wondered how they got your details?
Maybe you’ve indulged in egosurfing (yes, there is a word for Googling yourself!) and wished you could remove a piece of information?
What’s European Data Protection Day?
I’m guessing that when you woke up this morning the first thought to cross your mind wasn’t ‘today is European Data Protection Day’. So, what’s it all about? According to the Council of Europe website:
‘The aim of the Data Protection Day is to give European citizens the chance to understand what personal data is collected and processed about them and why, and what their rights are with respect to this processing.’
I doubt that sounds very exciting to many, but if privacy is something you’re concerned about then you may be keen to get a little more familiar with your rights.
The changing face of privacy
Much has changed in the field of privacy with technological developments resulting in the collection of huge amounts of data. Have you noticed how many new technologies seem to be encouraging us to give more and more away?
Just think about the trail of data you leave behind you on an average day… browsing the web, online shopping, ‘Facebooking’ your friends – the list goes on. Often we’re completely oblivious to the little identity breadcrumbs that we leave behind.
Privacy has certainly cemented itself on the agenda. It seems hardly a day goes by without a story about the addition of a new privacy feature to browsers or someone who was lost their job because of pictures discovered on Facebook.
Politically, there’s also a lot on the cards with the review of the Data Protection Directive fast approaching. Here at Which? we want to make sure that the companies you interact with are being transparent about how they’re using your data. And we want you to have control over your personal information – after all it is yours, right?
Are you bothered by how much of your data is collected on a daily basis – and would you like to know more about what’s collected and why? Perhaps you’d like companies to be more upfront about how they use your personal information?
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