| Data privacy refers to the evolving | | | | regulated and rigidly enforced in Europe. |
| relationship between technology and the legal | | | | Article 8 of the European Convention on Human |
| right to, or public expectation of privacy in | | | | Rights (ECHR) provides a right to respect for |
| the collection and sharing of data. | | | | one's "private and family life, his home and |
| | | | his correspondence", subject to certain |
| Privacy problems exist wherever uniquely | | | | restrictions. The European Court of Human |
| identifiable data relating to a person or | | | | Rights has given this article a very broad |
| persons are collected and stored, in digital | | | | interpretation in its jurisprudence. |
| form or otherwise. Improper or non-existent | | | | According to the Court's case law the |
| disclosure control can be the root cause for | | | | collection of information by officials of the |
| privacy issues. The most common sources of | | | | state about an individual without his consent |
| data that are affected by data privacy issues | | | | always falls within the scope or article 8. |
| are: | | | | Thus, gathering information for the official |
| | | | census, recording fingerprints and |
| * Health information. | | | | photographs in a police register, collecting |
| | | | medical data or details of personal |
| * Criminal justice. | | | | expenditures and implementing a system of |
| | | | personal identification have been judged to |
| * Financial information. | | | | raise data privacy issues. Any state |
| | | | interference with a person's privacy is only |
| * Genetic information. | | | | acceptable for the Court if three conditions |
| | | | are fulfilled: (1) the interference is in |
| * Location information. | | | | accordance with the law, (2) pursues a |
| | | | legitimate goal and (3) is necessary in a |
| The challenge in data privacy is to share | | | | democratic society. For more information, |
| data while protecting the personally | | | | please refer to Human Rights Handbook no. 1 |
| identifiable information. Consider the | | | | (PDF) or the Council of Europe data |
| example of health data which are collected | | | | protection page. |
| from hospitals in a district; it is standard | | | | |
| practice to share this only in the aggregate. | | | | The government isn't the only one who might |
| The idea of sharing the data in the aggregate | | | | pose a threat to data privacy, far from it. |
| is to ensure that only non-identifiable data | | | | Other citizens, and private companies most |
| are shared. | | | | importantly, engage in far more threatening |
| | | | activities, especially since the automated |
| The legal protection of the right to privacy | | | | processing of data became widespread. The |
| in general and of data privacy in particular | | | | Convention for the Protection of Individuals |
| varies greatly around the world. | | | | with regard to Automatic Processing of |
| | | | Personal Data was concluded within the |
| The Universal Declaration of Human Rights | | | | Council of Europe in 1981. This convention |
| states in its article 12 that: | | | | obliges the signatories to enact legislation |
| | | | concerning the automatic processing of |
| No one shall be subjected to arbitrary | | | | personal data, which many duly did. |
| interference with his privacy, family, home | | | | |
| or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his | | | | As all the member states of the European |
| honour and reputation. Everyone has the right | | | | Union are also signatories of the European |
| to the protection of the law against such | | | | Convention on Human Rights and the Convention |
| interference or attacks. | | | | for the Protection of Individuals with regard |
| | | | to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, the |
| Protecting privacy in information systems | | | | European Commission was concerned that |
| | | | diverging data protection legislation would |
| Increasingly, as heterogeneous information | | | | emerge and impede the free flow of data |
| systems with different privacy rules are | | | | within the EU zone. Therefore the European |
| interconnected, technical control and logging | | | | Commission decided to harmonize data |
| mechanisms (policy appliances) will be | | | | protection regulation and proposed the |
| required to reconcile, enforce and monitor | | | | Directive on the protection of personal data, |
| privacy policy rules (and laws) as | | | | which member states had to transpose into law |
| information is shared across systems and to | | | | by the end of 1998. |
| ensure accountability for information use. | | | | |
| There are several technologies to address | | | | The directive contains a number of key |
| privacy protection in enterprise IT systems. | | | | principles which must be complied with. |
| These fall into two categories: communication | | | | Anyone processing personal data must comply |
| and enforcement. | | | | with the eight enforceable principles of good |
| | | | practice. |
| Policy Communication | | | | |
| | | | They say that data must be: |
| P3P - The Platform for Privacy Preferences. | | | | |
| P3P is a standard for communicating privacy | | | | * Fairly and lawfully processed. |
| practices and comparing them to the | | | | |
| preferences of individuals. | | | | * Processed for limited purposes. |
| | | | |
| Policy Enforcement | | | | * Adequate, relevant and not excessive. |
| | | | |
| XACML - The eXtensible Access Control Markup | | | | * Accurate. |
| Language together with its Privacy Profile is | | | | |
| a standard for expressing privacy policies in | | | | * Not kept longer than necessary. |
| a machine-readable language which a software | | | | |
| system can use to enforce the policy in | | | | * Processed in accordance with the data |
| enterprise IT systems. | | | | subject's rights. |
| | | | |
| EPAL - The Enterprise Privacy Authorization | | | | * Secure. |
| Language is very similar to XACML, but is not | | | | |
| yet a standard. | | | | * Not transferred to countries without |
| | | | adequate protection. |
| WS-Privacy - "Web Service Privacy" will be a | | | | |
| specification for communicating privacy | | | | Personal data covers both facts and opinions |
| policy in web services. For example, it may | | | | about the individual. It also includes |
| specify how privacy policy information can be | | | | information regarding the intentions of the |
| embedded in the SOAP envelope of a web | | | | data controller towards the individual, |
| service message. | | | | although in some limited circumstances |
| | | | exemptions will apply. With processing, the |
| North America | | | | definition is far wider than before. For |
| | | | example, it incorporates the concepts of |
| Data privacy is not highly legislated or | | | | 'obtaining', 'holding' and 'disclosing'. For |
| regulated in the U.S.. In the United States, | | | | more details on these data principles, read |
| access to private data is culturally | | | | the article about the directive on the |
| acceptable in many cases, such as credit | | | | protection of personal data or visit the EU |
| reports for employment or housing purposes. | | | | data protection page. |
| Although partial regulations exist, for | | | | |
| instance the Children's Online Privacy | | | | All EU member states adopted legislation |
| Protection Act and HIPAA, there is no | | | | pursuant this directive or adapted their |
| all-encompassing law regulating the use of | | | | existing laws. Each country also has its own |
| personal data. The culture of free speech in | | | | supervisory authority to monitor the level of |
| the U.S. may be a reason for the reluctance | | | | protection. |
| to trust the government to protect personal | | | | |
| information. In the U.S. the first amendment | | | | * In the United Kingdom the Data Protection |
| protects free speech and in many instances | | | | Act 1984 was repealed by the Data Protection |
| privacy conflicts with this amendment. In | | | | Act 1998. For details, visit U.K. data |
| many countries privacy has been used as a | | | | protection page or read the article about the |
| tool to suppress free speech. | | | | Information Commissioner |
| | | | |
| The safe harbor arrangement was developed by | | | | * France adapted its existing law (law no. |
| the US Department of Commerce in order to | | | | 78-17 of 6 January 1978 concerning |
| provide a means for US companies to | | | | information technology, files and civil |
| demonstrate compliance with European | | | | liberties). More information is available on |
| Commission directives and thus to simplify | | | | the website of the CNIL CNIL (in French only) |
| relations between them and European | | | | (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et |
| businesses. | | | | des Libertés) |
| | | | |
| Very few states recognize an individual's | | | | * In Germany both the federal government and |
| right to privacy, a notable exception being | | | | the states enacted legislation. For details, |
| California. An inalienable right to privacy | | | | visit the page of the Federal Data Protection |
| is enshrined in the California Constitution's | | | | Commissioner (Bundesbeauftragter für den |
| article 1, section 1, and the California | | | | Datenschutz). |
| legislature has enacted several pieces of | | | | |
| legislation aimed at protecting this right. | | | | Safe Harbor Program |
| The California Online Privacy Protection Act | | | | |
| (OPPA) of 2003 requires operators of | | | | The US Department of Commerce created the |
| commercial web sites or online services that | | | | Safe Harbor certification program in response |
| collect personal information on California | | | | to the 1995 Directive on Data Protection |
| residents through a web site to conspicuously | | | | (Directive 95/46/EC) of the European |
| post a privacy policy on the site and to | | | | Commission. Directive 95/46/EC declares in |
| comply with its policy. | | | | Chapter IV Article 25 that personal data may |
| | | | only be transferred from the EU to countries |
| In Canada, the Personal Information | | | | which provide a level of privacy protection |
| Protection and Electronic Documents Act | | | | equivalent to that of the EU. This introduced |
| (PIPEDA) went into effect in relation to | | | | a legal risk to organizations which transfer |
| federally regulated organizations on 1 | | | | the personal data of European citizens to |
| January 2001, and in relation to all other | | | | servers in the USA. Such organizations could |
| organizations on 1 January 2004. It brings | | | | be penalized under EU laws if the privacy |
| Canada into compliance with the requirements | | | | protection of the USA were to be deemed |
| of the European Commission's directive. For | | | | weaker than that of the EU. The Safe Harbor |
| more information, visit the website of the | | | | program addresses this issue. Under this |
| Privacy Commissioner of Canada. | | | | program, the European Commission agreed to |
| | | | forbid European citizens from suing US |
| Europe | | | | companies for transmitting personal data into |
| | | | the USA. |
| The right to data privacy is heavily | | | | |