Introduction
The current explosion in the number of technologies that are available as relating to the dissemination and management of information has made it increasingly easy to access information. At the centre of this is the evolution of the internet or World Wide Web which has made it possible to interconnect different peoples from around the world in a manner that geographical boundaries seem non-existent and the exchange of information seamless. This development has made the privacy of individuals, groups of people or firms a growing concern. In fact, a number of these entities - individuals, groups of people or firms - believe they are losing control over their own personal information or information that refers to them. The protection of personal information is aimed at one main objective - maintenance of the privacy of the person. The privacy of an individual still remains very treasured and so, it becomes troubling when this position is threatened.
Privacy
Privacy which is an elusive concept is experienced on a personal level and actually means different things to different people. According to the opinion of Post (2001), a legal scholar on the difficulty of privacy, “Privacy is a value so complex, so entangled in competing and contradictory dimensions, so engorged with various and distinct meanings, that I sometimes despair whether it can be usefully addressed at all.” The right of privacy of an individual is equated to "the right to be let alone" from outside intrusions.
According to Pritts (n.d.), a number of models of privacy have been put forward in order to facilitate a better understanding of the concept. These include
Solitude, being alone
Seclusion, having limited contact with others
Anonymity, i.e. being in a group or in public but not having one's identity known to others
Secrecy, i.e. having information being withheld or made inaccessible to others
In this paper, the models of privacy which relate to the protection of personal information and which will be considered are the models (iii) and (iv) i.e. Anonymity and Secrecy, respectively.
It is noteworthy here that the threats to the privacy of any entity can be from an individual, group of people or from the state. It is in the light of the threats that some laws have been put in place to address the protection of the personal information of individuals, groups or firms. The data protection laws were originally focused on addressing actions of state that infringe on privacy, it has been established that there is also a strong need to have effective personal data protection in the light of some scandals involving data processing by private companies in recent years.
In order to have a better understanding of a data protection law especially as it relates to an employee-employer relationship, a list of what is expected of an employer according to JILPT Report (2014) is presented as follows:
Transparency: It is important as a minimum requirement that workers know what data the employer is collecting about them either directly or indirectly. The employee or data subject should also have access to his or her data as collected by the employer.
Security: the employer is obligated to ensure implementation of measures to guarantee the security of the personal data of the employees.
Finality: Data must be collected from data subjects for a specified and legitimate purpose which is explicitly stated. The data must also be processed in ways that are compatible with the legitimate purpose as specified.
Accuracy: The records and personal data collected from employees must be accurate and up to date.
Legitimacy: The processing of the data collected from employees must be legitimate.
Awareness and training: The staff with the responsibilities of handling and processing the personal data obtained from employees must be made to know about the importance of data protection and be properly and adequately trained for it.
Proportionality: The personal data obtained from an employee must be relevant proportional in that it must not be excessive with respect to the purposes for which it is collected.
Protection of Personal Information
In online protection of personal information, a SWOT analysis and matrix strategy was proposed by Kao (n.d.). SWOT means Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat, which is a paradigm used in identifying these four elements as faced by an entity. This analysis provides a good strategic plan of action based on internal and external factors, against perceived threats and weaknesses, as well as exploiting the strengths and opportunities therein. The strategy that will be developed entails an action plan that determines the way things are to be done especially within an organization. The SWOT analysis of internet privacy considers both internal and external factors to and the actions to be taken. Based on these internal and external factors, the analysis of privacy are presented in these phases as building a strategic plan, change of management processes, constructive attitude and increase in number of potential vulnerabilities (Kao, n.d.).
Conclusion
The information super highway also known as the internet has made the access to information quite easy. The threats to the privacy of personal information of people and organizations keep increasing with the evolution of information and communications technology especially the internet. Privacy has been considered based on a number of models, but considered in this paper based on the models of anonymity and secrecy i.e. having one’s identity unknown to others in a group and having information withheld from others, respectively. In order to protect the personal information of people, a number of laws or legislation have been put in place to check infractions and other scandals pertaining to the collection, processing and management of personal information of people.
REFERENCES
JILPT Report (2014). Protection of Employees Personal Information and Privacy. 2014 JILPT Comparative Labor Law Seminar. PDF. Retrieved from http://www.jil.go.jp/english/reports/documents/jilpt-reports/no.14.pdf on 26 April, 2016.
Kao, D.Y. (n.d.). SWOT Matrix Enhancement for Online Protection of Personal Information. Journal of Information Technology and Society. PDF. Retrieved from http://jitas.im.cpu.edu.tw/2014/1.pdf on 26 April, 2016.
Post, R. (2001). Three Concepts of Privacy. Georgetown Law Journal 2087, 89.
Pritts, J.L. (n.d.). The Importance and Value of Protecting the Privacy of Health Information: The Roles of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Common Rule in Health Research. PDF. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/Files/Activity20Files/Research/HIPAAandResearch/PrittsPrivacyFinalDraftweb.ashx on 27 April, 2016.
