Greenleaf, Graham --- "Dutch-Canadian Report endorses anonymity" [1995] PrivLawPRpr 90; (1995) 2(7) Privacy Law & Policy Reporter 136

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Dutch-Canadian Report endorses anonymity

Privacy-Enhancing Technologies: The Path to Anonymity - Dutch Data Protection Authority (Registratiekamer) and Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC), Ontario, Canada , 1995

The study is the first ever undertaken by two privacy agencies and offers a strong policy basis for privacy-enhancing technologies. It recommends that:

1. International information systems design standards should be developed incorporating the need to examine whether an individual's identity is truly required for the operation of various process within the system.
2. At the design stage of any new information system, or when revising one, the collection and retention of identifiable personal information should be kept to an absolute minimum.
3. Consistent with the privacy principles that information system should be transparent and open to view to data subjects, they should also provide users with the ability to control the disclosure of their personal information. Data subjects must be placed in a position to decide for themselves whether or not their identity should be revealed or maintained in an information system.
4. Data protection commissioners, privacy commissioners and their staff should make every effort to educate the public and raise levels of awareness in the area of privacy-enhancing technologies. The use of privacy-enhancing technologies by public and private sector organisations should be also encouraged.

The report is available (free) from:

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario,

80 Bloor St., West, Suite 1700,

Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 2V1

or

tel: [phone]

fax: [phone].

Originally published in EPIC Alert, Volume 2.10, September 24, 1995, published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, DC; E-mail [e-mail]; URL http://www.epic.org/

NZ Privacy Commissioner Annual Report 1994.

Graham Greenleaf