You Own Your Personal Information — A Real Privacy Bill of Rights

(c) Copyright 2008-2013 David Dilworth

The following article is a summary of the Report “Personal Information Privacy Rights Table which outlines the five (plus one) crucial protections needed to insure legal privacy anywhere from any unauthorized collecting or use by governments or corporations.

This Privacy Rights report entitled “Personal Information Privacy Rights Table” was written long before the National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s equivalent Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) were exposed as comprehensively spying on their own citizens and citizens of and in other “friendly” countries. It was just updated to include references to these recent disclosures. It is notable that all the principles are identical save one. I have included genuine Whistleblower protection.

Privacy Bill of Rights

1. You, and Only You, Own Your Personal Information

Each individual has Un-alienable self-executing Privacy Rights to wholly Control, Protect or Encrypt all personal information about themselves.

You also have the Right to Revoke the ability of anyone to obtain, use or keep any of your personal information. Additionally, you have the right to know who has, or controls, any of your personal information.

2. Are you Asking me or Telling me?

It is a violation of an individual’s Privacy Rights for a government or business to demand(1, they can ask, but not require), obtain or use any personal information of any individual other than the few exceptions noted in the Personal Information Privacy Rights Table included here – unless and until you explicitly give your fully-informed consent.

3. Legal Burden is on Information Thieves — Not on You

Because release of your personal information is so inherently dangerous, Courts shall give the highest protection for these Privacy Rights and shall use the “Strict Liability” doctrine and the “Fair Argument“(2) Standard of Review for evidence of alleged violations.

4. Legal Protection is Reasonably and Easily Attainable

Reasonable Attorney’s Fees shall be Awarded, as well as a minimum of $1,000 fine to the Plaintiff for each violation. Subject to the maximum award limits, these cases may be brought in Small Claims Court.

5. Deterrent: “Hoovering” Personal Information is a Crime

Collecting critical personal information exceeding some thresholds (e.g. 100,000 names and phone numbers; 100 Social Security Numbers; 10 Bank account numbers) is a felony for every person involved whether affiliated with business or government.

Update Aug 28, 2013:

6. Separating Whistleblowing from Espionage

No government has ever provided genuine protection for its own whistleblowers. Yet it is vital to stop the anti-democracy prosecution and harassment of genuine Whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, William Binney and Daniel Ellsberg; to distinguish them from actual spies. Therefore, to the extent someone publicly exposes government actions that are unlawful or unconstitutional they are protected from all prosecution for those exposures. When a person gives confidential government information to an oversight body or to the media, they shall be presumed a whistleblower until and unless it can be shown they received compensation for the information.

# # #References:
Personal Information Privacy Rights Table, David Dilworth, 2013, Deep Politics Weblog

Notes:
1. A business may ask for personal information but is required to inform you that you may decline or refuse. They are also required to inform you they may not refuse to do business with you for this reason because they are required to find alternatives that are acceptable to you or must conduct your business without that information.

2. If you can make a “fair argument” using “substantial evidence” that an agency, business or person might have, used, or obtained your personal information without your consent the Court is required to find they have violated your constitutional Right to Privacy. (This is similar to the fundamental principle of aircraft flight safety, that a potentially hazardous condition must be proven to be safe. It is foolhardy to complacently assume it is safe until its danger can be proved.)

Tell your friends but don’t stop there — send this article to your Congressman/Congresswoman and Senators and persistently insist they introduce, advocate for, and vote for a Bill with all six of these vital personal and Democracy protections.

_______________Contrast these genuine Rights described above with President Obama’s sham “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” which is outrageously protective of business and government’s ability to steal, use and keep your personal information:

“Transparency: Consumers have a right to easily understandable information about privacy and security practices.

(dd: This falsely assumes you have no right to control or stop access and use of your personal information.)

“Respect for Context: Consumers have a right to expect that organizations will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data.

(dd: Again, falsely assumes you can’t control your personal information.)

“Security: Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data.

(dd: Falsely assumes you can’t rescind use of your personal information and require its deletion..)

“Access and Accuracy: Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data are inaccurate.

(dd: Falsely implies that the only rights you have, or control you get, is to improve the data quality for government and corporate invasions of your privacy.)

“Focused Collection: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain.

(dd: “Accidentally?” forgot to let you limit government collection of your data. Only “limits,” does not let you stop, Corporate collection of your data. Companies can collect your data but you have to go to court if you feel its too much.)

“Accountability: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

(dd: This is irrelevant, because the alleged “Rights” are all so meaningless, so empty. It also ignores any government mis-use of your personal data..)

It is satisfying to note how a web search on “you own your personal information” now returns some 30 entries. When this article was first published — it was the only one.