From collected to protected: simple ways to stay in charge of your data

Did you know that every time you post, share, click, tap, swipe, like and purchase, you’re sharing valuable pieces of information about yourself? Companies use this data to improve their sites and apps, tailor the products or content they recommend and target their ads.

Sharing personal information – either deliberately or unknowingly – is now an inevitable part of digital life. It’s important to know how companies collect data and why, so you can play a more active role in protecting your privacy. It only takes a few simple habits to stay in charge of your data and live a safer and more secure life online.

What is personal information?

In the most obvious sense, personal information includes your name, birthday, email address and phone number. In the digital world, it also includes your opinions, spending habits, IP address, photos, videos, emails and text messages. According to leading security solutions provider McAfee, personal information breaks down into four key categories:

• Personal data: anything used to identify you (name, gender, SIN, IP address, web browser cookies, device IDs).
• Usage data: how you interact with websites, texts, emails, paid ads and other online activities.
• Behavioural data: what you buy, actions you repeat, how much time you spend on a site/page and how you navigate a site.
• Attitudinal data: what you like, what you care about, your preferences and your points of view.

Why do companies care about and covet personal information so much? For many (and companies like Google, META and Amazon are some of the biggest collectors), it’s another (and very profitable) revenue stream and helps them sell their products or services more effectively. There are three ways companies use the data you deliberately and inadvertently share:

• Sell to data brokers: data brokers buy, analyze and package personal data to create detailed personal profiles. It’s valuable, and companies make significant revenue from selling it.
• Personalize marketing: insights allow companies to improve campaigns to drive better results.
• Customer experience: by analyzing reviews, feedback and recommendations, companies can improve interactions with you to promote loyalty and brand stickiness.

Privacy concerns

While Canadians accept that their digital lives inevitably include data collection, they are still concerned about their privacy, and with good reason. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) conducted public opinion research on privacy issues.

Highlights of the findings include:

• 89% of respondents are somewhat concerned about the protection of their privacy
• Only 12% of Canadians trust social media companies to protect their personal information
• 87% of Canadians are concerned about their privacy when using social media
• 91% are concerned about data being used to create marketing profiles or commit identity theft
• 71% find it difficult to understand privacy policies
• 67% don’t know where their personal information goes or how it is used

Canadians’ privacy concerns are valid. In July 2024 the OPC released results from a privacy sweep it did in partnership with 25 privacy enforcement authorities from across Canada and the world.

The privacy sweep found that 97% of websites and apps reviewed were using one or more deceptive design patterns that may influence people to give away more of their personal information online.

MediaSmarts refers to deceptive design as “dark patterns,” which influence people to do things they may not want to do or not do things they want to do. There are three ways that companies employ dark patterns:

• Obstruction: the option to accept data collection is a default choice while the option to manage data settings is complex and hard to do.
• Obfuscation: buttons that allow data collection are more obvious or appealing, and the distinction between the data you have to give and what’s optional is unclear.
• Pressure: apps are harder to use when you don’t share personal information, and language is geared toward making people feel good about accepting data collection and bad about wanting to protect privacy.

Easy action you can take

Simple, consistent digital habits can make a big difference. Here are some easy strategies you can incorporate into your digital hygiene practices to better protect your privacy as companies collect and mine more and more data:

• Review and customize your privacy settings and turn off tracking and targeted ads on Google, META and TikTok
• Avoid signing into apps using social networks log ins and opt to create unique usernames and passwords instead for each app
• Turn off permissions in all apps for access to your camera, microphone, location and contacts
• Accept the minimum level of data collection offered (look for Reject All or Only Necessary rather than Accept All)
• Review social privacy settings at least twice a year (who can see posts, friends lists and location tags).
• Delete apps and accounts you no longer use and make sure personal information is no longer accessible
• Opt out of marketing permissions on e-commerce sites and avoid linking any unnecessary personal data

If you’re using the internet, your personal information is out there. But you can take more control over what you share and with whom. By adopting a few simple habits – changing your settings, deleting old accounts, managing permissions and accepting only necessary data collection – you can enjoy your digital life while protecting your privacy. It’s important to remember that your personal information belongs to you, and you have a say over how much of it companies can access.