International Data Privacy Day is held every January 28th and Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen says it is a good time to remind residents to protect their information against the growing number of identity thieves and fraudsters.
“The world that we live in is one that is driven by technology and data and while there is a convenience that comes with that, there is also a risk. And the risk is that when someone is able to obtain your personal information and data, it’s difficult and time-consuming to undue that damage,” said Goertzen.
Data Privacy Day is used to remind consumers to protect their pin numbers when making purchases, to shred personal information before discarding it and to be wary of providing personal information over the phone to unknown solicitors or losing physical control of your credit cards.
“Because technology is such a common thing in our day to day lives we sometimes simply forget to protect the data that is associated with it. Data Privacy Day just is a reminder that our cards and data devices are very convenient, but when we lose control of them through identity theft or fraud they are anything but convenient. So it’s a reminder to take simple precautions,” said Goertzen.
