Happy Data Privacy Day!

Did you know that Data Privacy Day takes place every January 28th? Here is how the event is described on the StaySafeOnline.org website, administered by the National Cyber Security Alliance.

Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008, as an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration in Europe. The Day commemorates the 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. Data Privacy Day is a celebration for everyone and held on January 28th every year.

A few interesting things about Data Privacy Day.

First, the biggest sponsors of the day (according to the StaySafeOnline website) are Intel, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and AT&T. This could double as a list of “organizations from whom your privacy must be protected.”

Second, Twitter and Google released self-reports in honor of Data Privacy Day. Those releases reportedly included some interesting facts about the number of times they get requests for personal information from governments around the world and the number of times they comply. In the United States Twitter gives at least some of the information requested 69% of the time.

Interesting stuff. But why should Twitter and Google be leading the way? Why have I not heard of efforts by major players in the market research industry to memorialize Data Privacy Day with revelations of their own?

Now that would make for some interesting reading.