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Attitudes to data use

The amount of personal information that others hold on us is growing, and many are concerned about what they see as a dangerous lack of awareness or concern about this amongst the general public. However, following the loss of personal information from a number of government agencies there is growing public unease about the privacy and security of data.

What are the implications?

• Expectations that data will be shared is increasing (see aggregation and storage of data) leading to a risk that users will perceive VCOs as part of a bigger project holding data that people have no control over. 
• There are a number of ethical issues regarding how data is used – it may be collected for one purpose and used for another
• Vulnerable groups are particularly at risk of agencies abusing confidentiality of data
• As the public become more aware of the use of data they may be more reluctant to share information
• Organisations will need to ensure they store and use data appropriately (see aggregation and storage of data)

Moving forward

Does your organisation need to communicate to beneficiaries more clearly about how the data you store on them might be used?

Perhaps the staff in your organisation would benefit from training on data protection to be clear about what they can and can not do with personal data?

If you share data with other agencies do you need to think about the process and communication of this to maintain the trust of your users and the wider public?

Do you need to think about how you share data with other agencies in order to improve services to beneficiaries or provide sufficient duty of care?

Do you have a role to play in helping to improve public understanding (or your users’ understanding) about how data is used?

Want to know more?

This section will be completed soon.  Here we will link to external documents and resources for further reading.