Privacy Commissioner of Canada Wants Your Input on Internet Privacy

Do you know where your personal information is today? You should - but "they" won't even tell you they're collecting it. HELP!!!

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched a public consultation on emerging technologies, including online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers by business. The deadline for written submissions is March 15th.

"In the practice of online consumer tracking, data about the browsing habits of individuals is collected through digital markers such as cookies. Additional data may be gathered using other technologies, such as deep packet inspection and the global positioning systems (GPS) common in many mobile communications devices.

Individuals themselves, moreover, volunteer significant amounts of personal information, especially through their participation in social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, and other popular web-based services such as foursquare.

Personal data can be collated and mapped against other types of information to generate detailed personal profiles. Such profiles are valuable to marketers and other enterprises that want to target products or services to people of a particular demographic or with specific purchasing preferences. Companies may also use the information to evaluate the popularity or success of their online products or services.

Proponents say that online consumer tracking, profiling and targeting supports free Internet content, allows people to receive more relevant advertising and discount offers, and promotes the development of useful services. For example, in conjunction with data from sources such as GPS and cellular networks, users can enjoy location-based services that recommend nearby restaurants or keep tabs on the whereabouts of friends.

Critics, however, warn that people may be unaware that their personal information is being collected, and do not understand how it is used. They also argue that, even when the information is anonymous, it can sometimes be combined with other information to identify individuals."

They're soliciting written submissions from the general public and I intend to submit one. What I'm looking for is information from you, including opinions, that I can include in my submission.

I know you are busy - so am I - but if we work together maybe we can counter the well-funded lobbyists, including those of the publishing industries who want to be able to include privacy-invasive information gathering in the Digital Rights Management systems they want the government to enshrine in law that we can't break or circumvent.

There have been 3 recent Copyright law bills proposed that completely break privacy in my humble opinion. Fortunately all three have fortunately died on the order paper - but the most recent news is that the United States is using their ability to block trade in sugar from Costa Rica until Costa Rica (a nation of about 4.5 million people) knuckles under and implements a US-style copyright regime complete with "DMCA-style protections" (aka you're guilty until you prove you're innocent). With Free Trade always on the table between Canada and the US, and the "secret" ACTA in negotiation which includes similar copyright and anti-circumvention provisions to the DMCA, now is the time to hook privacy into the argument in a big way.

In addition, the European Union is pressuring Canada to extend author copyright to 70 years from the current 50 (remember, it was originally 14 years) and also jump on the anti-circumvention bandwagon.

The privacy aspects in copyright must be addressed.

The privacy aspects of the internet in general must be understood and our government must be made aware of what we feel are relevant problems and concerns.

You have to think about this in the context of your use of technologies in the networked world - read on for some examples that should make you think - and hopefully respond.

An example of invasive privacy practices and aspirations (of business) in today's networked world

First Sale - you purchase something and yet you don't really control it or have the ability to do what you want with it

Games - there is a burgeoning second-hand game market (and movies, CDs, etc.)

While retailers reap the benefits of selling the same product multiple times, publishers and developers don't see any income once a title hits the second-hand market. But realising it's powerless to stop retail from selling second-hand goods, EA (Electronic Arts - a Canadian company) is looking to combat the problem by capturing the consumer with online content and services. - Gamesindustry.Biz (registration required)

You can lend or sell a book or game of Monopoly you purchase - but the electronic games (and music, video, ebook) publishers, because the can through the use of DRM (not because they have the right under current law) and/or tying sales to online connections (which violates your right to privacy), want to control and halt such secondary markets for their copyright products. This is directly against the "First Sale Doctrine" which balances copyright.

Music/Video CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray/downloads - You want to play these whenever/wherever you are - but the publishers want to wrap them up in software that rats on you - tells them where you are, what kind of player you're using, when you play, what you play - and you won't be allowed to stop them because you're not allowed to break the software and hardware protection measures they put on your machine. You won't be able to even decide if you want these measures on "your" machine.

If/when you go to sell/lend/dispose of your player machine you either can't easily (and then only if you identify yourself to the vendor), or can't at all, move your purchased recordings to another machine. The items you purchased and paid good money for may be removed from your "library" at any time in the future and you have no recourse. You can't sell or lend your purchased materials to someone else.

I refuse to purchase anything that is tied up/licensed such that it tells its creator about me and that tells me I can't do what I want with it in my personal use of it and in relation to disposing of it in the manner I choose.

How about you?

richard