Today marks the final day of Data Privacy Week. Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey says this year the focus was on putting best interests of youth at the forefront of privacy. As well as protecting employee privacy in the workplace. 

Data Privacy Day, celebrated each year on January 28, began as a day to commemorate the 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. Since that time, Data Privacy Day has now expanded to a week of initiatives creating awareness about the importance of privacy and the protection of personal information. 

• The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner joined in the call of Putting best interests of young people at the forefront of privacy and access to personal information. Young people live in a world where their digital life is a daily reality. Youth have a right to privacy across all sectors and there should be clear limits on when and how their personal information may be collected, used or shared. 

• The group also called for Protecting Employee Privacy in the Modern Workplace. Employee monitoring has undergone substantial expansion in its use, technological capabilities and application in recent years and the adoption of digital surveillance technologies can have disproportionate impacts on employees’ privacy.