***NEW*** Case Studies Now Available

We’re constantly trying to improve our service offerings. In that vein, we just added the first set of case studies to the site. Gold subscribers may find them under the Premium Services Tab.
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Privacy Impact Assessments

Canadian Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) identify potential privacy threats that exist in new or revamped federal government programs or services. The objective of the assessment is to eliminate or reduce privacy or security threats. All federal departments, agencies and institutions are obliged to conduct PIAs for any programs or services that may raise privacy concerns. As part of the process, the department must examine and asses the procedures for protection of personal information throughout the program’s lifecycle (i.e. collection, storage, usage, disclosure and [...]

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COPPA: The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1998 by the FTC to protect the personal information of children. It specifically applies to websites that target children and provides guidelines for the collection, use and disclosure of personally identifiable information of children under the age of 13 who may not understand the dangers of disclosing personal information on the [...]

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P3P Privacy Policies

The Platform for Privacy Preferences Project, more commonly known as P3P was designed by the World Wide Web Consortium aka W3C in response to the increased use of the Internet for sales transactions and subsequent collection of personal information. P3P is a special protocol that allows a website’s policies to be machine readable, granting web users’ greater control over the use and disclosure of their information while browsing the [...]

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Data Protection Laws Around the Globe

Information Privacy is an International concern. Today, most countries have laws protecting personal data from misuse and destruction. Regulation and enforcement of data protection varies from country to country. However, despite such differences, almost every country uses the same basic privacy concepts and principles– notice, access, consent, data integrity, disclosure and accountability– to develop data protection [...]

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Safe Harbor Compliance

Safe Harbor is an advantageous agreement between the United States and the European Union that governs the protection of data during transfer from the E.U. to the U.S. American companies wishing to do business with companies in the E.U. may receive certification, stating they have implemented data protection principles that are similar and equal to those of the E.U. Data Protection Directive, and are then allowed unrestricted data transfers with entities in the E.U. Recently, the FTC– the U.S. body governing enforcement of Safe Harbor– has begun to crack down on U.S. companies claiming Safe Harbor compliance, but failing to implement the required protection standards. Multi-national companies must now take a strong look at their privacy policies and notices to ensure they are Safe Harbor compliant and avoid Federal [...]

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Limiting Data Collection

While increasing the amount of detail and information seems enticing to the business intelligence office, security and privacy professionals must step in and put on the brakes to limit disclosure [...]

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Twitter is following your clicks

Several Twitter users noticed a change in their service Tuesday. It wasn’t obvious to most, and might not represent a significant difference. This examination of Twitter’s privacy policy questions their [...]

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Finding and fixing mistakes – Data Subject Access & Redress

What happens when a company collects incorrect data? How can a consumer even discover the inconsistencies? What course of action does a consumer take, and what should a corporation do to respect the rights of their [...]

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UK Builder's Blacklist demonstrates EU privacy protections

The British Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas began prosecution of Ian Kerr, a private investigator used extensively within the UK construction business. An investigation of Mr. Kerr revealed he compiled a database of 3,213 workers used by 40 construction companies for vetting potential employees, with, according to Commissioner Thomas, documents that “… show that files on individuals included comments on individuals such as ‘communist party’, ‘ex-shop steward, definite problems, no go’, ‘do not touch’, ‘orchestrated strike action’ and ‘lazy and a [...]

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