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What is personal identification?

If you are a Canadian, there is a one in tenth chance that you have suffered from some kind of identity theft. Thanks to the sudden increase in the use of electronic instruments such as ATMs, credit cards and online banking, this has mutated into a huge problem. There are many organizations that collect you personal identification data and they could be misused if you are not careful.

Personal identification is any data that can be used to identify an individual. In Canada there are several details and documents that can serve this purpose. The most important of these is your Canadian Social Insurance Number. Every citizen is given a unique number. This number is then used by the federal government for various reasons such as those dealing with pensions and tax related activities. It is a confidential piece of information that could be used to steal your identity and therefore you should be careful about whom you share it with.

Some important documents that can be used for Personal identification include your Canadian passport, your birth certificate, driver’s license, vehicle registration, etc. These documents are extremely important and could cause major trouble if you don’t monitor them closely. Never give these documents to an organization unless you know what it is being used for and make sure that they are not misused.

There are two laws in Canada that regulate the way in which Personal identification information is collected and used by various governmental as well as non-governmental organizations. These include the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The privacy act is used to regulate the activities of federal governments that deal with such information. PIPEDA on the other hand is used to regulate information on individuals collected by non governmental organizations. In case any of these laws are violated then you can make a formal complaint to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is appointed to investigate into complaints of violation of these laws. In case you feel that your Personal identification has been stolen and misused, all you have to do is to make a complaint to the privacy commissioner. The commission will then investigate your case and prepare a report based on their findings. Although such a report is not legally binding, it can be used in the court of law in case you decided to press charges.

Of all the information one has to deal with in today’s world, there is none as important as Personal identification. If you are not careful it can be used to manipulate and harm you in so many different ways. Although it is the duty of the organization that collects such data to safeguard it, you too have a role to play. So be careful about who you give what information to and in case of any malicious misuse of such information, be sure to take immediate legal action before it gets too late.



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