When You Don’t Have To Provide Your Sin
Some private-sector organizations may ask for your SIN. This practice is strongly discouraged, but it is not illegal.
Here are examples of when you don’t have to give your SIN:
- proving your identity
- completing a job application before you get the job
- completing an application to rent a property
- negotiating a lease with a landlord
- completing a credit card application
- cashing a cheque
- applying to a university or college
Protect Your Privacy From Hackers Spies And The Government
Learn how to protect your privacy from hackers, spies and the government with some practical tips!A few simple steps can help you protect your privacy from hackers, spies and the government. These tips can make a difference and help you protect your data.Many people believe they have nothing to hide, but they don’t always think about all the data that is made available on their social networks in just a few clicks.Previously, internet security was seen as a safe environment in many countries, but after some privacy and regulatory changes, this has changed for the worse.Today we’re going to talk a little more about how you can protect your data and your privacy on the internet. Check out the following information:
International Data Protection Day: 5 Steps Governments And Companies Can Take To Respect And Protect Our Privacy Online
For the web to live up to its full potential as a force for good, our online world must be safe and empowering for everyone. But right now, the webs benefits come with too many risks to our health, to our democracy, to our security, and to our privacy. This International Data Privacy and Data Protection Day, were calling on governments and companies to take action to build a web where our fundamental online privacy and data rights are respected and protected.
The Contract for the Web, a global plan that lays out a shared vision for the web we want and provides a roadmap for the policies and actions we need to get there, sets out the steps governments and companies can and must take to restore trust in the web and safeguard its future. Principles 3 and 5 of the Contract outline how governments and companies can respect our right to privacy.
To create a world where everyone can use the web freely, safely, and without fear, governments should:
1. Pass comprehensive data protection laws that hold companies accountable for how they collect and use peoples personal information.
2. Make sure those laws set out clear rights for individuals to control their personal data, including the rights of access, objection, rectification, data portability and redress.
3. Require companies to carry out regular data security and privacy impact assessments, demonstrating theyre handling peoples data in the right way.
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Applicability Of This Data Policy
Nothing in this Data Policy alters, or impedes the ability to carry out, the authorities of the Federal Departments and Agencies to perform their responsibilities under law and consistent with applicable legal authorities, appropriations, and presidential guidance, nor does this Data Policy limit the protection afforded any information by other provisions of law. This Data Policy is intended only to improve the internal management of information controlled by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and it is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, by a party against the United States, its Departments, Agencies, or other entities, its officers, employees, or agents.Top
Get Familiar With Privacy Tools:
Is your current setup centered on protecting your privacy? Heres a shortlist of tools you can use to lock down your devices and communications.
- Devices: Encrypt your devices. To set up up your device to privacy, check out our privacy guides for phones and computers.
- Browser: Browsers allow you to access the internet by automatically putting your privacy preferences into practice. Dont know where to start? Check out Dan Arels recommended browsers on ThinkPrivacy.ch.
- Search: Use a private search engine like Startpage. To learn more about what makes Startpage stand out, check out Dan Arels private search engine comparison.
- Email: You can send password encrypted emails to anyone with email providers like StartMail.
- Messaging: Using an encrypted messaging tool will make it harder for law enforcement to read your texts. One of our favorites is Signal.
- VPN: Theres a lot of VPNs out in the market. We suggest using a paid one over a free one. Dan Arel also has a great list of recommendations on ThinkPrivacy.ch.
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Build Your Threat Model:
Whether youre a PTA mom or community activist, you have something to protect. It could be your social security number, text messages, or browsing history. The first step is identifying:
By answering these questions, youre building a threat model and better able to put a privacy and security plan into action.
If You Have Been Victim Of Fraud
You can ask for a new SIN only if you can prove that your SIN was used fraudulently.
However, getting a new SIN will not necessarily protect you from fraud or identity theft. If someone else uses your old SIN as identification and the business does not check the person’s identity with the credit bureau, credit lenders may still ask you to pay the impostor’s debts. Each time, you will have to prove that you were not involved in the fraud.
If we issue you a new SIN, you will need to contact all your financial institutions, creditors, pension providers and employers to ask them to update your files.
Note: Service Canada cannot correct a credit file. It is up to you to contact your financial institution, report any discrepancies and have them resolved.
If you have proof that someone else is using your SIN, an investigation is required.
An indication that your SIN is being used fraudulently is when you receive a Notice of Reassessment from the Canada Revenue Agency concerning undeclared earnings. This means that another person has used your SIN for employment purposes or to receive other taxable income.
You must visit your nearest Service Canada Centre with your original proof of identity documents and provide proof that another person has used your SIN.
Here’s what you will need to provide to Service Canada if you suspect someone is using your SIN:
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Other Information About You
COVID Alert is a Government of Canada app. Its designed so that your health information stays with your provincial or territorial health care provider. Health care workers have no way of providing your personal information to COVID Alert.
Your identity and health status arent shared with the Government of Canada. COVID Alert doesnt know who you are and cant access your health information.
If you receive an exposure notification, the app will suggest next steps. We wont receive any health information about you whether taking those next steps or not.
COVID Alert doesnt connect with or collect any information from any other app on your phone.
Your Data Wont Be Removed Even Though Youve Removed It
This is whats risky about social media. Whatever posts or information that youve entered in the social media platforms, it wont be able to be deleted even though youve removed it from your timeline. One of the reasons for this is that the companies behind these services needs as many data collected about its users as possible and dont want it to let go of it. Another reason is that when the data is still being stored in their servers, even though it has been gone from the public, the government can still access the information regarding any individuals even though theyve removed their tracks on social media.
In this case, it can be really dangerous for your online privacy because your information will always be at the hands of those companies even though you no longer want to share it with others.
How To Protect Your Privacy: Post only good things on social media, whether it is about you or anyone else. This way, you wont regret anything youve posted.
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Dont Count On Government To Protect Your Privacy
Lets look to technologies like blockchain and other innovations to keep our data private.
Mr. McCarthy is the House minority leader.
Imagine that Congress proposed a law that made postage free in the United States. Even in the digital age, this would be quite convenient. The only catch? In exchange for free mail, postmasters would be permitted to open your mail and read our letters and bills. The benefit, postmasters would insist, is they would know when youre planning a family vacation. And then the post office could send you hotel recommendations or advice for the best restaurants and activities.
Convenient, right?
On second thought, you might rather pay the 55 cents for postage if it meant keeping advertisers from knowing the location and itinerary of your family vacation before you even get on the plane.
We prefer that strangers not read our mail thats why weve made doing so a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison. We have blinds because we dont want outsiders peering into our homes. We have laws to protect our health care records because we definitely dont need strangers knowing our medical history.
So why should we treat our online identities and privacy any differently?
Unsurprisingly, these remedies lean on the premise that only government can solve market inefficiencies that lead to irresponsible corporate behavior.
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican of California, is the House minority leader.
A Threat Playbook For Your Organization
One thing your organization can do is develop an Internet privacy quick reference playbook that is easily available to employees. It can provide threat and best practices to follow for your specific area:
Here are five of the most significant online threats to data privacy coming from the web and best practices to handle them:
- Unsafe web browsing practices
Many users don’t scrutinize sites on which they find information. There are often signs that sites you visit can be malicious and ask for your PI: free offers, shortened URLs, pages socially engineered to trick users to set up an account and download malware from them.
What you can do
Keep your anti-virus up to date up to date. Use the most secure Internet browser — Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge are the two best choices. Scan files with your anti-virus software before downloading. Dont re-use passwords for multiple websites. Turn on your browser’s pop up blocker.
- Cookies and web tracking
Cookies are files downloaded to your browser by a website that contain unique identifier data about the site. However, they dont contain any personal information or software code. When a website “sees” the data it set in a cookie, it knows the browser is one that has contacted it before.
What you can do
Set your browser to delete cookies every time you finish browsing or set “opt out” cookies on your browser to cookies aren’t allowed at all in your browser.
- IP address tracking
What you can do
What you can do
- The threat from the cloud
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The Government Works Closely With Social Media Platforms
The social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter will comply to the governments rules regarding data collection and sharing. Under any circumstances, whenever it is needed, the government can request the social media services to share the data about its users for the purpose of investigation or any other purposes. If the company doesnt comply to the governments requests, their business might be at risk.
On the other hand, since social media deals with people directly, it becomes a great partner for the government for studying about their citizens and knowing everything about them with very little work. It might even become the governments extended surveillance system for the citizens.
How To Protect Your Privacy: Dont stand out in social media. As a good citizen, try to use the social media responsibly.
The Government Won’t Protect Your Internet Privacy So Here’s How To Do It Yourself
The big money of the internet comes from tracking and selling user data to better target ads. Do one search for power drills and youll be inundated with ads for related products across your whole web experience. Those are targeted ad dollars at work. This is at the core of Facebook and Googles business models, and for good reason: the amount of money companies spend advertising online is set to outpace money spent on ads on television this year. Internet service providers are eager to get in on the actiononce existing privacy protections for users are no longer an obstacle, that is.
Yesterday, by a vote of 215 to 205, the House of Representatives voted to strip privacy safeguards from people who use the internet. The measure already cleared the Senate with a narrow majority, and experts expect that President Trump will sign the bill into law. When he does so, ISPs, the companies that connect people to the internet, will be able to collect and sell information about specific users without their permission.
More specifically, the bill nullifies a set of rules put in place by the FCC. Collectively, the ruleswhich have been in the works for months and years and are built on prior rulemakingare newly formalized: The FCC published the final version last December, and most took effect in January, with one part coming into effect this March.
Weve put the entire responsibility of security on the users, says Dillavou.
Use a Virtual Private Network
What About Tor?
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Why Protecting Privacy Is A Losing Game Todayand How To Change The Game
Summary
Recent congressional hearings and data breaches have prompted more legislators and business leaders to say the time for broad federal privacy legislation has come. Cameron Kerry presents the case for adoption of a baseline framework to protect consumer privacy in the U.S.
Kerry explores a growing gap between existing laws and an information Big Bang that is eroding trust. He suggests that recent privacy bills have not been ambitious enough, and points to the Obama administrations Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights as a blueprint for future legislation. Kerry considers ways to improve that proposal, including an overarching golden rule of privacy to ensure people can trust that data about them is handled in ways consistent with their interests and the circumstances in which it was collected.
Free Vpns Come With A Cost
So-called free VPNs track the users online activity. Those free services need the revenue that accrues from selling all that user data to third-party marketers. It can also slow down the users internet connection. Users on the free side take a back seat to paying customers in bandwidth. Those users will see adware and annoying ad popups with resulting junk email as their activity is tracked online.
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Always Ask Why How And Who
Dont give out your personal information unless you are comfortable with how it is going to be used.
An organisation or agency must only collect your personal information by lawful and fair means and in general must only collect information that is reasonably necessary for their functions. For example, a store loyalty card program is unlikely to need to collect information about your medical history. If you dont think they should collect the information they are asking for, ask why they want or need it. This helps you to understand how your personal information may be used and whether it may be given to someone else.
There are often situations when you dont need to give out your personal information. In many situations you also have the right to use a pseudonym or engage anonymously.
Data Quality And Retention
All information accessed through Data.gov is subject to the Information Quality Act . For all data accessed through Data.gov, each agency has confirmed that the data being provided through this site meets the agencys Information Quality Guidelines.
As the authoritative source of the information, submitting Departments and Agencies are responsible for ensuring that the datasets accessed through Data.gov are current and correct, in compliance with record retention requirements outlined by the National Archives and Records Administration .
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How To Protect Your Privacy On Social Media
- 20/10/2021
- inBlog, Data Privacy
Lately, privacy concerns have increasingly gained a broader public and political debate. This is partly because of social media and the internet in light of the 2018Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Today, social media platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Linked In, and Snapchat have become internet users digital billboards.
Here, people share news, pictures, personal views, and nearly anything thats going on in their lives.
The large amount of information that people share on social media some of which is very personal attracts other viewers outside of their trusted circle of relatives and friends.
Someone somewhere records much of what you do on your social media for reasons you may not know.
The government, Spambots, ad companies, vindictive acquaintances, and worse still cybercriminals could also have an interest in your personal information.
Knowing these privacy concerns, we identify ways to protect your privacy on social media in this article.
We believe that with the information in this article, you can take appropriate measures to protect your social media privacy.
