Sebastiaan Gottlieb reports:
Few people realise how much of their private information is stored electronically. New research in the Netherlands shows that details on the average Dutch citizen are held in as many as 250 databases.
Some people’s details are kept in thousands of places. On Friday, the Dutch ‘Big Brother’ Awards will be presented to those judged responsible for the worst breaches of privacy in 2009.
Almost everyone is aware their details are held in various databases run by agencies such as the tax office or for things like the electoral list. However, a lot of us have no idea about all the other databases that have information on us too.
Many experts are worried about the threat this poses. Dr Bart Schermer of Leiden University has written a report about this issue entitled ‘Our Digital Shadow’. He, too, thinks some databases pose a real threat.
Read more on Radio Netherlands.