Protecting Privacy – Using Computers and the Internet Wisely

Know who you are supplying personal data to and why

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Think twice before agreeing to supply your personal data to any party who requests them. Ask

yourself if they have genuine reasons to ask the type of personal data from you.

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Think twice before supplying personal data of your friends or relatives in exchange for privileges.

Ask yourself how you would expect your friends or relatives to guard and respect your personal

data.

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Before you provide your personal data to a website or via email, ask yourself if you really know

to whom you are providing the information. Legitimate websites can easily be copied, and fake

websites are made to look professional and authentic.

Think about the implications of disclosing your personal data

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Think twice before posting any personal data on social networking sites. Once disclosed, there is no way

to stop such information from being circulated or searched on the Internet. Read the leaflet “Protecting

Online Privacy – Be Smart on Social Networks”

issued by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for

Personal Data (the Commissioner) for more details.

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You may disclose innocent information such as your pet’s names on one site and use it as the

answer to the question for password recovery on another site. Think twice before disclosing such

information or choosing the right questions for password recovery.

Are you requested to provide excessive data?

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Learn to question whether personal data requested over the Internet by websites or other data users

is excessive for the purpose of collection. For example, why do you need to provide your full date of

birth if a website only wants to confirm that you are old enough to use it? If you are not purchasing

goods, why should a website ask for your credit card number and / or residential address in advance?

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Do not be too ready to provide personal data in exchange for privileges. Consider what the other

party may want to use the personal data for. For example, he or she may use it for profiling purposes

or even fraudulent activities.

See

Protecting Privacy –

Using Computers and the Internet Wisely