Living in the Information Age, our society has become accustomed to providing their personal information (sometimes without hesitance or second thoughts)..to websites, business online forms, social networks etc. Now, we all know deep down that personal information should somewhat be kept as it is named.. personal.
Our local government had introduced the 'Personal Data Protection Act 2010' which came into full force on 15 November 2013 (1). This had changed the information systems of businesses and companies which are required to disclose their privacy policies and ensure a customer/client/any third party's information is removed from their systems as soon as there is no longer a purpose. The IT systems then would have been re-designed or altered in such a way as to 'purge' this information if it was found to be left idle and used for no reference. This act is a very serious act and it does have further details to it (of course I will not dwell on it all here), but penalties for non-compliance go up to RM100-500K and/or 1-3 years of imprisonment.
Sounds serious..? It is. And we should also take it seriously in our daily lives and in our personal virtual connections and activities, for our own protection. Misuse of information could range from just being annoying (e.g. having tele-marketers call you up) to being dangerous (e.g. being targeted for armed robbery at your own home). And if you refer back to my post on 'Cyber-terrorism' - you may even start to be paranoid. You wouldn't like to be in a scenario where you are threatened with a "You better watch out, I know everything about you" - as if out of some horror-terror-thriller movie. Would you? I definitely wouldn't.
Lock up your information, make sure all security measures are in place; Don't let unwelcomed strangers into your home!
What I don't get is why so many of us instead of going out of our way to protect ourselves, do the exact opposite. We are a society which loves to share... nothing wrong with that I guess, but make sure you know who you are sharing with, and be aware of the consequences!
Just to share (see, even I'm doing it - sharing hahaha) with you, a story of a friend of mine. I will not reveal any names here for confidentiality and security (of course) purposes. Anyway, the story goes like this. My friend was not well and so went back to her hometown to rest in the arms of her beloved family. A gang of her friends (not including me) decided to visit her, but yet did not know where the house was. They tried to call her but her phone must have died or was turned off. But, in the end... they ended up right outside her house! Amazing. How did they do it? Through shared information of course, on social networks and the main clue was a picture of the house posted by my friend's sister (who was not at all connected to anyone in the gang). My friend's sister did not privatize anything on her social network, everything and anything was made available to any Tom, Dick or Harry. Now from amazing, I found this to be very worrying instead. If a gang of school kids could track a person down using this kind of information, imagine what professionals could do?!
I know it may sound paranoid, but please do take care of your information. Today, too often that not we share information which just does not need to be shared. Penny for your thoughts..
Be the gate-keeper to your data, know who you are letting in!
Reference/s:
(1) http://www.pwc.com/my/en/services/what-is-pdpa.jhtml
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