DOWNLOAD Private Citizen Guide
Personal information is much more than just your name, address and passport number, it is a valuable part of who you are, and you should treat it with respect.
This guide to protecting your privacy comes from the makers of Erasing David, a feature documentary about civil liberties and the database state.
Update: check out how insecure scanners and photocopiers are: WATCH
Also here’s a template if you want to make a Subject Access Request to anyone.
Biometric data is let everywhere as is your details. This documentary is working as I work within my own art practice and I would like to make further links with this. Let’s see what the next step will be?
Comment by David Thomas Crawley — May 4, 2010 @ 11:37 pm
Two quick questions:
1) Where do I start with a list of the companies/organisations that may hold data on me? Places of work, obv., but any suggestions as to other likely places to contact?
2) Apart from write back with corrections, is there anything I can do? If I request deletion of my data/files, is there any obligation to act on this, or am I whistling into the wind?
Thanks – brilliant doc., really got me thinking
Comment by Napoleon Boneapart — February 3, 2011 @ 4:07 pm
Hi Napolean,
There’s quite a bit of info here:
http://erasingdavid.com/categories/protect-yourself/private-citizen/
And in other places on this site.
I’m not giving out the full list of companies I sent Subject Access Requests to – because that would identify my bank etc etc, but basically I sent them to 80 organisations, government and private, which I’d ever had dealings with e.g.:
DVLA
HMRC
Local council
Doctor surgery
wider NHS
Gas, electricity etc suppliers
Amazon
Airlines
etcetc
It look me about 30 mins to write a list of 50, then it look me a further couple of hours to list the other 30 (which I did by looking through my emails and bank account).
If they have errors, you can ask them to correct. But that’s it!! The law is very weedy – you can’t ask them to delete the details. Well you can (I tried) but they don’t. I’m afraid the secret is really to stop handing out any personal data except where it is really necessary.
Hope this helps.
David
Comment by David Bond — February 14, 2011 @ 4:07 pm
If there was a process by which, you could submit a request to have ALL your data removed from all databases, first, that would make modern life tough, and second, the cohort of the population choosing to do so would have a higher concentration of crooks, paranoids and idiots. Deciding how to selectively delete self-records takes some thinking. Some corporate databases would be no-brainers. Others… I’m not sure.
Regarding bio-metrics… imagine perfect, instant biometric recognition machines being ubiquitous. Many records, needing cross-referenced data for further identity verification, eg your mother’s maiden name, become redundant.
The real tide change comes if you can others owning your data their cost rather
than their benefit. Maybe identity chaff will come into being.
Fabulous doc. Clever setup. Very well done.
Comment by NotMyName Smith — October 15, 2011 @ 6:42 am
If there was a process by which, you could submit a request to have ALL your data removed from all databases, first, that would make modern life tough, and second, the cohort of the population choosing to do so would have a higher concentration of crooks, paranoids and idiots. Deciding how to selectively delete self-records takes some thinking. Some corporate databases would be no-brainers. Others… I’m not sure.
Regarding bio-metrics… imagine perfect, instant biometric recognition machines being ubiquitous. Many records, needing cross-referenced data for further identity verification, eg your mother’s maiden name, become redundant.
The real tide change comes if forcing others owning your data becomes their cost rather than their benefit. Maybe identity chaff will come into being.
Fabulous doc. Clever setup. Very well done.
Comment by NotMyName Smith — October 15, 2011 @ 6:45 am
In the US, when someone brings in a car for repair–even if it is being paid by the person (not car insurance), the repair log is sent to a data base accessed by insurance companies. Some of stores will even report when you get your oil changed. They read the VIN off the car.
If someone wants to know any information and they do not have a good reason for it, I make it up. My social security number, phone number etc. It’s easier than arguing with a clerk who is just doing the job in the way that she or he was told to. Later, if I want to, I will call the head of the company and ask their reason. Sometimes, it was just included on the stock form that they use but most often it’s because “that’s the way we always did it.”
Any ideas or concern with using Gmail? I have a couple of accounts but my primary uses my first and last name as part of the email address. I also have a secondary account that has no identifying information in the email address. How much privacy do I have with a gmail account?
Comment by Sue — December 7, 2011 @ 9:52 pm