What is privacy protection?
Privacy Protection hides your personal information from public view. Without privacy protection, your physical address, phone number, email address, and other personal information are accessible to anyone on the internet.
From credit-card numbers to photos from the latest kegger, more private information is online than ever before. Businesses need to protect that information, and individuals need to be careful with it. Mike Spinney, a privacy expert in Townsend, Mass., says states are only now beginning to pass laws that require companies to have written security plans to prevent data breach. Beyond data, a cottage industry is developing in the field of reputation management. “The bad things we do online can be seen by just about anybody,” says Spinney. “The good things you do online can be your social media résumé, as it were. But you don’t want an impertinent comment on Facebook to be the difference between landing, or not landing, a job.”
Privacy protection firm
Major Internet companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo have made fortunes mining your data, tracking your surfing habits, and learning everything there is to learn about you. But now they care about your privacy.
Or at least they’re claiming to.
According to an Associated press article by Michale Liedtke and Marcy Gordon, “The industry’s profit machine has become tarnished by revelations that the National Security Agency trolls deep into the everyday lives of Web surfers.” In an attempt to polish over the tarnish, the major companies “are becoming more aggressive in their attempts to counter any perception” that they’ve been helping government spying efforts. Let’s hope that they’re caring about more than the perception of protecting privacy.
Data privacy protection has become one of the top concerns for executives, worldwide. Just one stroke of bad luck can create a major data security breach—a computer hacker breaks into a company’s website and steals credit card data; a disgruntled employee discloses confidential information; a laptop is stolen from an employee while traveling—for companies. Even a well-managed company can run into trouble by taking just one wrong step as it collects, stores, transfers, or discloses data. And, the consequences of such incidents can be serious and even devastating.
Today, almost every company processes information relating to its employees, customers, suppliers, or other third parties. Some of that data, specifically employment records, mailing lists, insurance records, medical records, school records, bank records, arrest records, data banks, privileged communications, social security numbers, and other government-provided identification numbers are protected by data privacy laws, globally.
Clearly, the most effective way to combat and protect against data privacy lawsuits is to understand which data you collect is private and to implement correct data privacy and security protocols.
Why company needs a policy for managing data privacy?
Even for companies whose core businesses are not online, the need to collect, process, store, and transmit information electronically is essential. Every business therefore needs to ensure that its policies and procedures reflect the legal framework governing this area. It is good company practice to adopt a privacy policy that provides the basic framework for all data protection compliance activities.
Privacy policy must be properly communicated and supported by training to ensure that staff members, including management, are aware of the rules and understand them. Guidance and other educational materials should also be made available and easily accessible. Compliance with relevant policies must be regularly monitored and breaches sanctioned. Contracts with third-party delegates should be reviewed to ensure that they too contain provisions regarding the protection of private data. It is also advisable that organizations undergo independent data security audits periodically. A well-constructed and comprehensive policy can provide a solution for competing interests and so represents an effective risk-management tool.