Yesterday was Data Privacy Day. Don’t bother looking for Hallmark cards, it’s not that kind of day. Canada, the United States and 27 European countries, mark this occasion as a means of raising awareness and generating discussion about data privacy practices and rights.

    Most people aren’t aware such a day exists. This probably speaks to the fact that too few people realize they are leaving an trail of data behind them for others to collect, merge, analyze, massage and sell, often without their knowledge or consent. Furthermore, on any given day, millions of people will send sensitive personal information over the Internet; thousands will likely be affected by a data breach, and hundreds will probably fall victim to identity theft.

    To commemorate Data Privacy Day, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada offered up these 10 ways your privacy is threatened:

    10. Surveillance cameras, swipe cards, Internet searches - as you go about your daily routine you actually leave a trail of data behind you for others to collect, merge, analyze and even sell, often without your knowledge or consent.

    9. New and exciting technologies are emerging daily; but often your personal information is the cost of admission. Think about the information you have surrendered just to play online games, join virtual worlds, or even shop online.

    8. Millions of people post all sorts of personal information about themselves, their family and their friends on social networking sites without reviewing the privacy policies, modifying the privacy settings, or considering how this information can be used or misused by others.

    7. Governments are indiscriminately collecting mountains of personal data in the name of national security and public safety.

    6. Businesses are collecting more and more information about an ever-greater number of people, often without having appropriate means to protect the information or dispose of it.

    5. Data breaches happen every day in both the public and private sectors. Recent incidents have exposed the personal information of millions of people. In fact, you could already have been one of those people, but due to the lack of mandatory breach reporting laws in Canada, you may never even be informed.

    4. Fraudsters have become extremely devious and technologically savvy. From the other side of the planet, they can steal your personal information. These days, you need to shred documents, protect your computer, watch out for fraudulent e-mails, be on guard against pretexting and much more.

    3. Identity theft, which is fuelled by excessive personal information collection and failure to protect it, is rampant - and it is becoming a very lucrative business for criminals.

    2. We live in a global society where information flows freely around the world - from person to person; jurisdiction to jurisdiction; public sector to private sector - and all privacy protection laws are not created equal.

    1. The notion that “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”. Privacy is an essential freedom that shapes our society; an internationally recognized human right; and the foundation of modern democracy - but if we don’t value our privacy or stand up for it as our right, it will be eroded over time.

    昨天是全球“个人隐私保护日”！但你可千万不要到邮箱去找祝贺贺卡哦，因为个人隐私保护日不是这种类型的节日~ 在加拿大，美国和其他27个欧洲国家，这个节日旨在提高人们对个人隐私的保护意识，以及引起整个社会对“个人空间保护权利”的关注。

    但是，大多数的人还不是很了解这个节日存在的意义。这也就从另一个方面证实了，很多人还没有意识到自己会在日常生活中留下自己的数据隐私，供窥探者去收集、汇总、分析、整理甚至出售。而更加夸张的现实是，无论在哪一天，都会有数以百万计的人们在网络上留下相当敏感的个人信息；数以千计的人们可能受到不正规数据的影响；甚至数以百计的人们会在上网的过程中，承认自己的盗窃犯罪事实。

    在“个人隐私保护日”这一天，加拿大的个人隐私保护委员会列举出了十种最容易泄露个人隐私的途径，用以警示。

    Top 10. 行走时的街头监控摄像头，购物结账时使用的银行卡，上网时使用的搜索引擎 —— 当你习惯性的去做这些每日必做的日常动作时，事实上，你下意识的留下了一系列的个人信息，可以供窥探者去收集、整理、分析甚至出售。

    Top 9. 每一天，我们的身边都会出现许多新兴的技术，但往往其使用条件就是要求你提供相应的个人隐私，例如那些你为了玩儿在线网络游戏，为了参加网上的虚拟世界，为了在线购物时提供的信息。

    Top 8.在社会性网络社区中，数以百万计的人们在不阅读个人隐私保护政策，不加大个人隐私保护权限的情况下，就不加思考的上传了大量的个人信息、家庭信息，甚至朋友信息，完全没有考虑到这些信息可能被他人利用，甚至滥用的可能性。

    Top 7. 相关的政府部门也打着为了保护国家安全和社会保障的名义，不加筛选的在网络上收集大量的个人信息。

    Top 6. 一些商务公司为了其发展在网络上收集大量的个人信息，但其却并没有处理、甚至保护这些数据的能力。

    Top 5. 每天都有公众数据和个人隐私数据被窃取。近日，一场加拿大的数据泄露事故导致数以百万计的个人信息被曝光，而事实上，这其中很有可能就包含你的个人信息，但是，由于加拿大相关法律体制的不健全，即使你的信息由于政府的过失被泄露，你也许也永远不会得知。

    Top 4. 网络诈骗行为趋于复杂和高科技化。即使黑客在地球的另一端，他也能够窃取到你的信息，对此，你应当尽可能的简化自己的隐私文件，升高电脑的安全级别，对诈骗邮件小心处理，随时提防网络骗子等。

    Top 3. 身份被盗窃。由于人们往往不注意保护好自己的隐私，导致网上充斥着大量的个人信息，这使得盗窃身份这一犯罪行为越来越猖獗，而这甚至成为了罪犯们可以赚钱的买卖。

    Top 2. 我们居住的地方不仅是一个全球性的社会，更是一个信息可以随意传播的社会，从个人到个人，权限到权限，甚至公共部门到私营部门，然而，在各个社会层面上的隐私保护条款却不是平等的。

    TOP 1. 有这样一种说法”当你没有任何隐私需要隐藏时，你就无所畏惧了。”享有隐私这一特权，是构成和谐社会的重要组成部分。隐私，是一种国际上被认可的个人权利，是现代民主的祭奠。所以，我们必须要认清隐私的价值，站出来保护自己的个人隐私，否则，总有一天，它将被时间吞噬。