The massive change in the ways that data is collected, stored and processed in the digital age poses great risks to our right to privacy and control our data. Our data is at the centre of many online businesses.
Privacy is a fundamental right for a very strong reason. It is essential for individuals to have control of their personal lives and to be free from invasion and surveillance in order to feel free from threat, particularly from the state. Our freedom of expression relies on privacy. When privacy is removed, so is the ability to speak and associate freely.
In the digital age, the right to control our data is also fundamental to balance our power as individuals against the power of the many companies we contract with. Sometimes this means being able to correct mistakes that might threaten our ability to get a loan; sometimes it mean the right not be surveilled in the workplace. At other times, it means stopping companies from sharing or exposing information about us for their own benefit. it is the protection of the information for private citizens who use digital mediums. However, when people speak about digital privacy, they often are referring to it in terms of its relation to Internet usage. Despite it being a popular and often incendiary issue, the obstacle of defining what digital privacy really is can prevent resolution.
Digital privacy centers on the fact that using digital mediums to conduct affairs, whether personal or professional, can leave digital footprints. For example, many Internet users don't realize that information about them and their Internet usage habits are constantly being logged and stored. A computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address can be traced back to a specific user and, as such, his website viewing habits can be monitored. Information such as the date and time of his searches, what browser he used to access websites and even how long he viewed websites can be retained on a