Nymity:  What is Data Privacy Day and what is its purpose?

Hoffman:  Data Privacy Day is an international celebration designed to further awareness about data privacy and protection.  For the first time, on 28 January 2008, the United States and 27 European countries celebrated Data Privacy Day together.  This year, both Canada and the United States have numerous events planned in celebration of the day.  One of the primary goals of Data Privacy Day is to promote privacy awareness and education among teens across the United States and Canada.  Data Privacy Day also serves the important purpose of furthering international collaboration and cooperation around privacy issues.

Nymity:  Why teen privacy?

Hoffman:  Teens are among the most creative, innovative, and frequent users of the Internet.  Social networks, online shopping, gaming, research and a vast array of communication tools available on the Internet provide opportunities for teens to provide personal information online.  Indeed, the majority of teens use the Internet, a majority of American teens online have profiles on social networking sites, and these sites enjoy tremendous popularity in other countries as well. 

While there are a number of materials and resources directed toward and created for parents and children, there have been fewer resources available to and for teens specifically discussing, not just internet safety, but data privacy, the importance of protecting the privacy of personal information in online environments. 

In most online contexts, it is vital to maintain the privacy and security of personal information including last name, address, phone numbers, other identifying characteristics like the name of a student’s high school, credit card and bank account numbers, and passwords.  It is also important that teens learn to consider the array of audiences interested in the personal information they share online – marketers and advertisers, prospective employers, colleges, parents, friends and, potentially, predators.  In this context, it is crucial that teens understand they should never agree to meet someone in person that they have “met” online.
In short, to be safe and to use the technologies available to them effectively and responsibly, teens need to learn when they may be at risk and how to protect the privacy of their personal information online. 

Nymity:  Who do you want to get involved and how does one go about becoming a volunteer?

Hoffman:  Everyone should become involved by learning one new thing about data privacy on Data Privacy Day.  For the past two years, Privacy Day activities in the United States have included privacy professionals, corporations, government officials and representatives, academics, and students across the country.  To volunteer, take an action on Privacy Day that will raise privacy awareness.

We are encouraging privacy professionals and educators to go into their communities and speak in high schools about the importance of data privacy.  Communicating with a schools and school officials about the prepared educational materials and collected resources available at www.intel.com/go/dataprivacydaymay drive an interest in the area and lead to presentation opportunities.  Importantly, schools and educators should know these materials are free and available for use by teachers, parents and teens, even if they are unable to schedule a presentation in January. 

We hope that corporations and nonprofits will take a role by engaging in or hosting some privacy oriented awareness activity. 

Nymity:  What resources are available to assist volunteers?

Hoffman:  Prepared educational presentations (powerpoints and scripts) are available for download at www.intel.com/go/dataprivacydayas well as an extensive collection of useful online resources, including videos, web sites, and tip sheets.  We will continue to add resources to this web page as they become available.

Nymity:  What was Intel’s motivation to create, promote and resource Data Privacy Day?

Hoffman:  At Intel, we believe that promoting understanding about how to protect the privacy of personal information ultimately builds trust in technology.  Data Privacy Day has given Intel the opportunity to promote teacher and student training in technology, to encourage community education, to increase understanding of and trust in available technology, and to contribute to international cooperation and conversation, all of which play a part in Intel’s education initiative and broad commitment to corporate responsibility.

Nymity: Could you speak to a few of the past successful initiatives from organizations as highlighted in the Data Privacy Day 2008 Final Report. 

Hoffman:  In the United States, the observance of Data Privacy Day 2008 was anchored by a nation-wide educational effort and an international academic conference about the future of privacy, which was held at Duke Law School on January 28, 2008.  With the leadership efforts of Leonardo Cervera-Navas, last year’s Data Privacy Day Coordinator and an EU official with experience in the Data Protection and intellectual property units of the European Union in Brussels, Duke University welcomed privacy experts and academics from across the United States as well as Peter Hustinx, Data Protection Supervisor of the European Union, Giovanni Buttarelli, Secretary General of the Italian Data Protection Authority, and Stefano Rodota, former Italian Data Protection Commissioner and President of the Article 29 Working Party (a committee of EU Data Protection Authorities). 

The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) encouraged its members to give educational presentations in their areas.  The educational materials created for this effort offered guidelines for sharing personal information while social networking, information about the relevance and meaning of privacy policies, and a brief review of basic online security risks.  The educational materials were and continue to be freely available to any educational institution that would like to take advantage of the opportunity to raise student awareness of privacy issues.

Government support of Data Privacy Day is also on the rise.  North Carolina’s Governor, Mike Easley, has provided leadership in this area by declaring January 28, 2008 Data Privacy Day in NC and by declaring January 2009 Data Privacy Month in NC. Washington’s Governor has declared January 28, 2009 Data Privacy Day, and similar proclamations are pending in a number of other states.  This year, in addition, Congressman David Price has created federal interest in the area by introducing House Resolution 1411, seeking support for the declaration of January 28, 2009 as National Data Privacy Day.

Nymity: Would organizations that provide products or services to teenagers be able to create podcasts or use other media to inform teenagers?

Hoffman:  We hope that those organizations and educators with a direct connection to teens and an interest in Data Privacy Day will be creative in the ways they communicate with teens about privacy.  Privacy is a fascinating field, and there are many innovative technologies, including podcasts, that can be used to convey privacy awareness.  When people create these educational materials, we hope they will share them by providing a link to such resources for the Data Privacy Day web page.  Organizations with materials to share can contact Data Privacy Day organizers by submitting a request through the box entitled, “Planning a 2009 event?” on the webpage.

Nymity:  Are there organizations planning to educate parents as part of Data Privacy Day 2009?

Hoffman:  Yes.  Several individuals have mentioned that they do not have the ability to organize volunteers to go into schools in their communities, but that they are using the available resources to offer brown bag lunches or similar on-site events for employees who are parents of teens or otherwise interested in some of the privacy implications of social networking.  Educating parents is an excellent way to raise awareness about data privacy issues.

Nymity: In closing, for those of us who are privacy professionals but do not have firsthand knowledge of social networking sites, how can we quickly gain some experience before January 28th?  Do social networking sites provide video-based training?

Hoffman:  Well, an understanding of how social networks work in practice is very helpful when trying to talk with teens, many of whom could be far more technologically advanced than those of us new to social networks.  I am not sure whether sites provide video-based training, but MySpace, for example, provides a feature called MySpace Quick Tour that gives a potential user the opportunity to learn about the services MySpace has to offer.  I also know, however, that one of the very best ways to learn about social networking is to talk with a teenager and ask for a one-on-one tutorial.  As long as you are not asking them to add you as a “friend,” they are often very willing to share their knowledge and tell you how their peers use a particular network. 

A point to remember with respect to these presentations is that an important aspect of the privacy message we are trying to convey is more common sense-based than technology-oriented.  Teens know how to use social networks – we want them to use these communication tools wisely and responsibly.  “Think before you post,” is a dominant theme of the educational effort.  It is essentially an effort to translate basic life lessons into the innovative technological landscape that most teens today use as their basic mode of communication.  In addition, we want teens to become aware of the many audiences interested in their personal information, to understand how marketers and advertisers can benefit from their personal information, and to make informed decisions about sharing that information for those purposes.    

On the technology side, though, we want teens to understand that once personal information is launched into cyberspace, it is incredibly difficult to take it back.  In addition, we want teens to learn to use the many privacy settings offered by so many networking sites.  These privacy options are often multi-faceted and somewhat complex. It is worth noting that Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, and Chris Kelly of Facebook, worked together to create a video explaining how to use the privacy settings on Facebook.  The video, available at www.intel.com/go/dataprivacydayprovides some helpful insights.