Mr. Karel Holub, a Czech Chief Argonaut of Argomall, Inc., emphasized the importance of knowing our data privacy rights in an AIESEC event at J301 last Friday.

He praised the country’s Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Under this law, people whose personal information is collected, stored, and processed are called data subjects. They have the right to file a complaint to the National Privacy Commission (NPC) if they believe that their personal data (personal details, whereabouts, and preferences) has been misused, maliciously disclosed, or improperly disposed by organizations.

Holub also discussed the ‘Beginner’s Guide to Data Privacy’ where he lists some tips for securing one’s personal information.

This includes deleting one’s browsing data; not being too public; backing up files and data; using firewalls; not logging in personal accounts on free or public wifi; cleaning up Facebook third-party apps; and unfriending Facebook friends you personally do not know.

He noted the importance of using a strong password that must be more than 8 characters with a mixture of numbers, symbols, and letters both in upper and lowercase. He advised to never use the same password for multiple accounts and suggested using a password manager app and Google Authenticator that implements two-step verification.

The Chief Argonaut cited recent data breach incidents such as the Facebook ‘View As’ feature and Cathay Pacific controversy.

Earlier this month, BBC reported that Facebook hackers have compromised and published private messages from at least 81,000 Facebook users’ accounts while the National Privacy Commission reported over 700,000 Philippine accounts were breached.

According to the cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, Philippines is the 9th most hacked country online with 10.6 million malware infections

Mr. Holub advised the millennials to be always careful with their online activity.

“Be mindful of your digital history, whatever you post, whatever you write will be there,” he said.

The AIESEC of Ateneo de Davao, in partnership with the Business Management Cluster, Interdisciplinary Studies Association and Filipino-owned consumer electronics company Argomall, Inc., organized the event.