The Four Pillars of Online Data Privacy

A few weeks ago, I blogged about personal identity information values -- shopping and acting online consistent with what you deem important. eGov precently published comments by the European Union (EU) Justice Commissioner, Vivianne Reding, about privacy for individuals. Reding's view of privacy for individuals in an online digital world includes four pillars:

1. The “right to be forgotten” - a combination of consumers' right to withdrawn or opt-out of any data collection efforts by companies, and the burden on companies to prove first that they have a need to archive and store the sensitive personal information of consumers they have already collected.

2. "Transparency" - to build consumers' trust, companies should fully disclose and inform consumers about what personal data they collect about consumers and why, how they use the personal data collected, the names of all third-party companies they share personal data with, the rights of consumers for remedies when consumers' rights are violated, and the risks with the personal data companies ask consumers to share.

3. "Privacy by default" - in too many instances companies build websites with privacy controls that are so complicated and convoluted that consumers can't effectively make their personal data private. In these websites, there really isn't any privacy and the websites' privacy controls don't reflect consumers' true consent. Reding believes that this situation must change, and that private should mean private.

4. "Protection by data location" - privacy standards for EU citizens should be consistent regardless of where consumers' personal data is stored. For example, if an EU resident's personal data is collected and stored by a U.S.-based company, then that company must comply with EU privacy standards, not U.S. privacy standards.

All of these pillars make perfect sense to me, but I see the fourth pillar being particularly tough. It's logical extension would force a website operator to konw, track and comply with a multitude of countries' varying privacy policies. My impression is that many corporate executives would be unhappy with having to work within the boundaries of all four pillars (not just the fourth), when they usually don't have to today.

I especially agree with Reding about the risks stated in the second pillar. Explanations about risks from sharing personal data apply to all consumers, but especially to youth who don't yet understand how business works and how companies use personal information. The risks and consequences should be explained to consumers about personal data that companies may make public permanently that consumers cannot make private again.

Over at the Guardian UK, columnist Mayes contests Reding's second pillar:

"But does the "right to be forgotten" really have a sound basis? In British law there is no right to be forgotten, but there are a host of laws to protect your identity and personal data... But to say there should be a right to be forgotten is to say we can live outside society. We can't."

To me, it's not about living "outside of society." For a lot of perfectly valid reasons, a consumer may decide to live off the grid, or entirely off-line. It is about consumers' control; the ability to control when and where your sensitive personal information is archived. Without the second pillar, there is no real control for consumers.

What do you think of these four pillars?