Privacy Breaches - Impact, Notification And Strategic Plans*

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Privacy Breaches - Impact, Notification And Strategic Plans*

Context

Privacy protection has become a hot topic in recent years, due mainly to the ever-growing pervasiveness of new technologies and to the millions of individuals in North America who have found themselves victims of privacy breaches as a result.

A privacy breach occurs when an individual's personal information is accessed, collected, used or disclosed in contravention of applicable privacy legislation or privacy policy. "Personal information," which is defined differently in different statutes, is the cornerstone to most privacy laws. Personal information usually refers to information that is about an identifiable individual. Some of the more obvious examples of personal information include information pertaining to an individual's home address, nationality or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age or marital status; education, health, employment or criminal history; personal identification numbers, such as those listed on a driver's license or a bank account number; biometric particulars, such as fingerprints or blood type; and sexual preference or political affiliation.

A privacy breach may arise intentionally or inadvertently, but the effect may be equally devastating on its victims. Intentional breaches can consist of theft1 or an abuse or manipulation of the technologies that are so often used to catalogue and protect personal information.2 Hacking, which consists of breaching computer systems and electronic safeguards, is a serious problem, particularly due to the heavy reliance organizations place on computerized databases. Such intentional breaches are often vicious in nature and consist of a deliberate desire to access, collect, use or disclose an individual's personal information with a view of causing a disturbance or perpetrating a crime.

While deliberate, b...

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