There is nothing like the freedom you feel when you first receive your driver’s licence! Finally, you can get yourself places without Mom or Dad giving you the third degree in the car, or yelling “I love you, honey!” in front of all of your friends (even though some of you secretly enjoy it). While driving is in itself a very exciting prospect, your driver’s licence has uses other than just being proof of your legal ability to drive.

Your driver’s licence is a piece of photo-ID, meaning that it contains identifying information about you such as your full name, age, height, and where you live, as well as a photo of you. This information is unique to you and is considered personal. It is important to realize that it can provide a direct link to you, and, if it falls into the wrong hands, could result in identity theft or fraud.

All of the information is printed on the licence, and is also coded into the strip on the back. In some provinces, you can also get a licence with a microchip that can broadcast this information to electronic readers nearby.

When stores ask you for your driver’s licence to swipe, ask why. When they swipe your licence, their system might just store ALL the information on the card. In cases like this, it’s very rare for the company or retailer to need all of the information that is provided when your card is swiped. It is a better idea to simply find out what the retailer is looking for and give them the information that you feel comfortable sharing with them, as opposed to them having all of your information on file. In cases of tobacco or liquor sales, swiping your card allows the cashier to confirm that you are in fact of age and that it is legal to sell these products to you.

If you’re underage, borrowing a friend’s ID to buy these restricted substances or for entry intro restricted areas (bars, clubs) is risky business! In doing so, you are actively posing as another person and in effect using their identity. In Ontario, having or using a fake, altered or fraudulently obtained driver’s licence could result in a fine of anywhere from $400 to $50,000. It is also possible to receive jail time for such an offence.

Remember to think it through before you take a $50,000 night on the town!

You bet it can. Case in point: an article on MSNBC detailing a recent post on Twitter, a social networking site that allows you to let “followers” know what you are doing, in 140 characters or less. One hundred and forty characters was all it took for one follower, known as “theconnor” to engage in a “social networking comedy of errors” by boasting about, and then being way too honest about, a job offer s/he had just received:

“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

Not long after the post went up, a representative from the company had responded, “the connor’s” true identity was revealed on the Internet, and a video mocking “theconnor” started circulating on YouTube.

What’s even worse? After seeing the reaction, “theconnor” changed the privacy settings on the Twitter account, making them private, and deleted the content of the home page. But, “it was already too late… thanks to Google Cache, the deleted content of “theconnor’s homepage resurfaced on CiscoFatty.com, a Web site erected to commemorate this cautionary tale”.

The article details other social networking faux pas that resulted in the creation of the term “Facebook fired”.

It just goes to show that nothing on the Internet is private, nothing on the Internet can ever really be deleted – and if you’re not careful about what you post, the Internet can get you fired.

A student emailed us this week, wanting to know if we were looking for something specific in our video contest.

“Other students along with myself are a little confused about what we should portray in our video; we all have some great ideas but are not sure if that’s what your asking for…. I’m  not really sure, so some light on the thing would be great….”

We deliberately kept the description vague because we didn’t want to rule out any creative ideas. Basically, we want you to explore what privacy is, what the potential risks could be, and how to prevent them. For instance, you could do a video on the implications of posting and tagging friends’ photos on MySpace or Facebook. Or you could make a video offering advice on how to protect your privacy online. Or you could follow a person around for a day, looking at all of the ways our actions are tracked (through surveillance cameras, MSN chat logs, bank transactions, etc.). The possibilities are endless!

Just make sure you read over the rules before submitting your final masterpiece.

Here are just a few examples of videos for inspiration:

C is for Cookie

Facebook in Reality

Privacy in the 21st century: Harry the Hacker

Digital Dossier

We hope you’re planning on entering our video PSA contest. (Contest details, deadlines and submission forms are available here.)

This is your chance to tell us what you think of privacy, express your creativity,and have a shot at winning at iPod Touch!

To help you out, here’s where you can find some pointers on making your own video PSA:

Nortel LearnIT video series on video production
Media Awareness Network: Marketing to Teens – Advertising Strategies
cbc.ca/kids The Outlet: How to Write a Script

We recently received this question in our comments, and we thought the answer deserved its own post:

“I’d like more information about how corporations or governments share personal information within their organizations. For example, if I fill out a form to enter a contest on Muchmusic.com, will they share my personal info with other parts of CTVGlobemedia, like TSN.com?”

Corporations and government have a responsibility to tell you how they are collecting and using your personal information. Websites that collect information (for a contest, as an example) should have a link to a privacy policy or statement that spells out how your information is being collected and used. On Muchmusic.com’s site, for example, their Privacy Statement states:

“Personal Information is only used by us for the purposes stated at the time of collection or as otherwise set out in this section.

If you have participated in an online activity, your personal information will only be used for the purposes of that online activity, unless you otherwise provide us with your consent. We may ask for your permission to use your personal information for other purposes, for example, to send you an email newsletter or for marketing purposes. We will only use this information for these purposes if you have provided us with consent by “opting-in” on the online form.”

Links to privacy policies or statements are usually at the bottom of the website – always check for them on your favourite sites.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has teamed up with privacy commissioners in Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand to launch an international video competition for young people. The competition is open to high school students and will close on July 25, 2008. Entries will be judged by the Commissioners and the winning videos will be announced during Privacy Awareness Week, August 24 to 30.

Canadian students submitting videos to the international competition will also have their video entered into our “My Privacy and Me” Video PSA Contest.

Submitting your video before July 25 means you’ll increase your chances of worldwide fame and winning a prize!

For more information on the competition and Privacy Awareness Week, visit www.privacyawarenessweek.org.

Last week, when we launched this site, we invited four students from Vanier Collegiate in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to talk to Canada’s privacy commissioners about their online activities and their concerns with online privacy. At the end of the discussion, they shared with commissioners their own ideas on how to improve privacy online:

• Make consent forms and privacy policies for websites easier to read and understand.
• Introduce a law that would protect kids from having their privacy exploited by companies.
• Educate kids, their parents and their teachers so they better understand how their privacy can be compromised on the Internet and what they can do to prevent it from happening.

What recommendations would you want to pass along?