[26.01.2007 first posted on silicon republic]
Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes has announced his intention to work closely with 12-24-year olds during 2007 to raise awareness of online privacy.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said it plans to consult with this age group, conduct research and issue new multimedia guidance material through websites, schools, colleges and other outlets on data protection and online privacy.
Of interest to the commissioner, according to his office, is how aware this age group is of privacy issues and their rights, for example whether teenagers and young adults know how much information others know about them; whether they answer online questionnaires or sign up for competitions and then get follow-up emails promoting various products; whether they are aware of the potential implications of revealing too much information about themselves in internet chat rooms, such as telling strangers where they live; and whether they receive advertising text messages and wonder how the sender got their number.
The commissioner aims to inform young people that they have rights when it comes to unsolicited text messages and emails, CCTV and personal data stored on the internet.
This campaign was announced to mark the inaugural Data Protection Day, an initiative of the Council of Europe which takes place this Sunday, 28 January.
Adults are also being encouraged to think about their rights in a digital age. The most basic right is the right of access to personal data, said the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, whether the data is held by your employer, a place of business, government, the gardaI or the health sector. Where the information is incorrect you have the right to have it amended or in some cases have it deleted, the office reiterated.
People are urged to check privacy statements on websites, confidentiality assurances on business documents and to always consider whether they wish to receive additional marketing material in relation to associated products or services.
“”I am pleased to say that in the vast majority of cases personal data is collected from and held about people in a very transparent way,” said Hawkes. “Many improvements have taken place in recent years in relation to what purposes personal data is obtained and used for.
“Unfortunately there are still many examples of cases of where personal information is used or disclosed in a manner that is not acceptable or indeed lawful. If government and business always inform the person what uses will be made of their personal information, the person can then take an informed choice in relation to those uses, and most of the problems encountered would not arise,” he added.
By Niall Byrne