Comment: The role of the Data Protection Commissioner will become even more important as technological advances extend the power of commerce and governments to misuse highly sensitive data about the lives of citizens, writes Karlin Lillington
"The privacy rights of citizens and consumers cannot be taken for granted," Data Protection Commissioner Mr Joe Meade said yesterday at the launch of his annual report.
And yet they are taken for granted, on a disturbingly regular basis, by Irish companies, organisations and - most worryingly - by the Government.
That this cavalier attitude towards the most basic foundations of the individual's rights is very often the result of ignorance rather than intent does little to alleviate growing public worries about how their most intimate personal details are used. In the past, such information - gathered by sources as broad as social welfare offices, the family doctor, the local supermarket, the vacuum cleaner company to which you sent back your product warranty card - would have gone into a paper file and been placed in a filing cabinet.
Now it tends to be saved in electronic form, held in computer files.
These files can be swiftly aggregated, sifted through, sorted, analysed. Information can be collected electronically as well, in ways that consumers often don't notice.
For example, store loyalty cards allow all your shopping habits to be retained and scrutinised.
Many people aren't aware that this is the trade-off for getting 15 cent off a packet of soup at the checkout counter.
The Internet is a particularly efficient medium for data gathering. Websites that a person visits can be feeding back information to a company database.
In the Republic, strict rules - now under severe threat, post-September 11th - govern how such information may be used, and violations of those rules are investigated, and may be prosecuted, by the office of the Data Protection Commissioner. But the office has been underfunded and understaffed for years.
Last year, despite the massive growth in the "harvesting" of electronic data from many sources, the office actually had one fewer employee (seven) than in 1989.
This year, his staff has doubled, which he says will enable him to be more aggressive.
About time. Complaints about misuse of data rose 78 per cent over last year, a third of which the commissioner upheld.
Citizens will want a strong commissioner as the twin arms of e-commerce and e-government mean even more data - including highly sensitive medical information - are gathered.
There are, of course, huge benefits and advantages that come from the ability to store, use and analyse digital data.
But the potential for misuse is so great that strong protections and monitors must be put - and kept - in place.