Ottawa, August 28, 2007 – Privacy is Your
Business is the theme of International
Privacy Awareness Week, which runs from August 26 to September
1, 2007.
A recent survey by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner
revealed that a majority of Canadian businesses (55 per cent)
believe their customers are more concerned about privacy related
issues today than in the past. In fact, many businesses (86 per
cent) recognize that taking privacy seriously is just good business.
In recent weeks, we have released several
tools designed to help employees, managers and owners understand
their roles and responsibilities under Canada's privacy laws.
These include new guidelines for the disclosure of privacy breaches
and an e-learning module for retailers. We
are working on more tools for businesses, which we expect to release
in the coming months.
As part of our public education mandate,
we are proud to join our international colleagues in promoting
awareness of the privacy rights of individuals and the standards
expected of businesses and governments.
International Privacy Awareness
Week is an initiative of some of the members of the Asia Pacific
Privacy Authorities, including officials from across Australia, as well
as New Zealand, Hong Kong and South Korea. More information about their
activities, as well as promotional materials, can be found at the International
Privacy Awareness Week website (http://www.privacyawarenessweek.org/paw/).
Other privacy authorities, including the OPC, and the Information
and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, are also members
of APPA.
In Canada, the Privacy Commissioner works with colleagues in British
Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec to promote privacy rights
in the private sector and with colleagues across Canada to promote
privacy rights in the public sector. Under the auspices of the
APEC Data Privacy Sub-Group, we are also working with privacy
authorities in Asia to develop mechanisms for the international implementation
of the APEC Privacy Framework.
The international privacy community will be coming together next
month, in Montreal, at the 29th
International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners.
Experts from the public and private sectors, academia and the
non-for-profit community will examine difficult issues such as
data mining, authentication and identity management in our volatile,
globalized and interconnected world.
