Adapted from the Privacy Commissioner's Annual Report: 1995-1996, with the permission of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Nothing to hide? That's just as well. From when we get up in the morning until we climb into bed at night, we leave a trail of data behind us - for others to collect, merge, analyse, massage and even sell, often without our knowledge or consent. And in most of Canada (except for Quebec), there is no law against it.
Here are some examples of the electronic trails we leave during a hypothetical day:
8:30 a.m - You exit your apartment parking lot
Cameras, and possibly a card, record your departure.
8:35 - Pull onto a toll highway
A device records your entry and exit points, in order to send you a bill at the end of the month.
8:42 - Caught in a traffic jam, you call work to delay a meeting
Cellular phone calls can easily be intercepted, and new personal telephones will signal your whereabouts to satellites to deliver calls.
9:17 - Enter office parking lot
Card records your entry and its time; automatic cameras monitor the garage.
9:20 - Enter main office/plant door
"Swipe" cards record your comings and goings; active badges allow others to locate you anywhere in the building.
9:25 - Log on to your computer
The system records the time you logged in.
9:29 - Send a personal e-mail to a friend, and a business message to a colleague
Both can later be read by your employer, since simply deleting them does not erase them from the computer's hard drive.
10:45 - Call your mother
Supervisors may monitor phone calls.
11:00 - Make a delivery using a company vehicle
Many company vehicles have geo-positioning devices to plot vehicle locations; some even have "black boxes" to record your driving habits.
12:05 p.m. - Stop at the bank machine
The system records details of your transactions, while cameras overhead or in the machine record your behaviour.
12:10 - Buy a birthday gift for a friend
Your credit card records details of the purchase, while the retailer's "loyalty card" profiles the purchase for points and directed discounts. Banks may also use spending patterns to help assemble complete customer profiles.
12:35 - Doctor's appointment
Health cards will soon contain small computer chips to record your complete medical history on the card. The blood sample you gave contains DNA, which could be tested for a wide variety of conditions; the subsequent doctor's diagnosis may be disclosed to your insurance company, and the details sent to a centralized U.S. registry run by the insurance companies.
1:15 - Pick up your prescription
Some provinces have online drug networks which share your drug history with pharmacies across the province, and may be disclosed to police tracking drug abuse.
1:30 - Return to work
Card records your return.
2:45 - Provide urine sample for employer's new drug testing program
Reveals use of targeted drugs, though not of impairment. Sample may also reveal the use of legal drugs such as birth control pills, insulin and anti-depressants.
3:30 - Meeting in a secure area
Pass through a security check, which scans your retina to confirm identity.
5:30 - Complete first draft of report
Your computer not only records your content, but can also store information about keyboard speed, error rate, and the lengths of pauses and absences.
6:15 - Leave the office
Your exit is recorded by the computer, the entry system and the parking lot.
6:30 - Buy groceries
Your debit card records the purchase, while a loyalty card tracks your selections for marketing and targeted discounts.
6:45 - Pick up a video
The store's computer records your Social Insurance Number and viewing preferences. This may allow the store to sell your viewing preferences (say, Erotica) to other companies.
7:20 - Listen to phone messages
Your phone has recorded callers' phone numbers, and will also (unless you enter a code to block it) display your number when you call others.
8:20 - Order clothing from catalogue
The catalogue company records your personal details and credit card number, and may sell the information to database-list marketers.
8:30 - Subscribe to a new magazine
Magazines routinely sell their subscribers' lists to mass mailers.
8:35 - Take call from a survey company
Such companies gather political views, social attitudes and personal views, though some surveys are actually marketing calls to collect personal data for future sales. The legitimate surveys destroy personal identifiers once the data are processed.
8:45 - Political canvasser comes to your door
Political contributions of more than $100 (the amounts, and the party they're contributed to) are listed in public records.
9:10 - Log onto the Internet
Your choice of chat groups and your messages can be monitored, and a profile can be assembled by anyone - including the police. Some Web sites monitor your visits.
Increasingly, living a modern urban life seems to mean there is nowhere to hide. In our search for security and convenience, are we hitching ourselves to an electronic leash?
The annual reports of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner are available online at http://www.privcom.gc.ca/information/02_05_e.asp.
