Data protection is one of the phrases that is doing the rounds in the news, both locally and on an international level.

The government recently announced that it would be publishing a legal notice to give powers to the Education Ministry, allowing it to request ability reports on any student at any level of education. This has understandably irritated parents of Maltese students.

Europe, as a whole, is moving towards protecting the data of citizens and not ‘eavesdropping’ on people. And this all comes against the backdrop of revelations that the United States was spying on ordinary citizens. The trend is worrying.

Meanwhile, in the international sphere, several international security firms have been warning people to change their passwords on all applications as security breaches could have opened up loopholes to allow data mining and data theft.

In a world where everything revolves around data, we must be much more vigilant. We are stuck in a bubble where we believe that if we keep our password sacred, we are safe. We are all so ignorant. Virtually any form – both in the physical world and in the cyber world – that we fill out normally comes with fine print and terms and conditions.

Do we ever read them? Hardly. Then, should it come as a surprise that the fine print tells you that you are signing away the right of companies to distribute your details? Have you ever wondered how call centres get hold of your number or email address and proceed to bombard you with offers and deals? Have you ever noticed how the political parties seem to know a lot about you? That’s because they too have their databases.

How does that happen? Very simple, we give our details away and we don’t even realise it. More often than not, it is not the younger generation that falls for these things, but those who are in their mid 30s and 40s. It is because we do not understand the way of the world in terms of data collection. We are living in a Big Brother society – yet we are the ones that are creating it. Everything is virtual and everything is in data format. This includes our bank records, our personal lives, our transactions online, our phone numbers... the list goes on and on. So what do we do? Do we go back to a pencil and paper society? No, that can hardly be done. Time waits for no man and progress comes with time. What we need to do is be more aware of what is being collected about us and how. The government also has an important role to play in that it should not be collecting data from children and their abilities.