Identity Theft Plus

The US and how it views personal data protection — and whether or not such protective measures as are instituted are vigorous enough — should serve to give pause to many people in the country as far as it concerns personal data and how it is used or collected. It might surprise people, but much personal data is available to just about anyone who wants it.

At present, data privacy is neither assured nor very well legislated or regulated in the US. There are, in fact, a great many people or organizations that can require or use or obtain a credit report when a person goes to apply for a job or purchase an automobile or the like. Also, the US has no single controlling authority when it comes to regulating data collection or usage.

The acquisition, use and storage of personal data suffer from this fact in many cases. It should be cause for no small amount of concern that whoever takes the effort to enter in the data will be considered to have ownership rights when it comes to storing and using that data even if permission was never obtained in order to collect the data in the first place.

It is also the case that the existing laws — such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — actually are structured more along the lines of taking steps to ensure the smooth flow of personal data that was collected rather than the institution of vigorous protective mechanisms to make sure the data that was collected is sufficiently protected from theft or unauthorized usage.

And even though the United States Supreme Court recognized in a landmark decision that there existed within the Constitution and Bill of Rights a defined right to privacy is also the case that only a few states actually recognize an individual right to privacy. The lone exception seems to be California, which values individual privacy ahead of much of anything else.

As far as the things that are done to protect data privacy when it has been collected and entered into an information system, there are certain tools available and which are known as “privacy enhancing technologies” (PET) that can help. Collectively, they consist of applications, mechanisms and computer tools that allow a user to protect his or her online privacy fairly efficiently.

Several examples of such privacy protection technology include certain anonymizers that have to do with how an online identity can be protected during communication such as that which occurs during e-mail or instant mail messaging, for example. These technologies can generate random IP addresses, disposable e-mail addresses and even pseudonyms.

As far as the implications for personal data protection in the United States, it should serve as a reminder that as increasing numbers of people begin making use of online mechanisms and other tools that exist in cyberspace in need will become greater than ever to ensure strong privacy exists. This includes strengthening laws that can work to help eliminate the possibility of personal data theft.

Interested in better ways to ensure personal data protection in your home? Stop by Life Link Safe to see how The Safe will help you keep your life secure.