October 29, 2003—A rapidly growing number of international laws and regulations designed to protect confidentiality have created a need for companies to use technology to comply, according SurfControl, a Web and e-mail filtering company.
In a recently published white paper, SurfControl examines several national consumer privacy laws throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia:
- In the U.K., The Data Protection Act of 1998 grants consumers certain rights and requires companies to be open about how personal information is used.
- Italy’s Law n. 675 requires that companies attempt to secure data with anti-virus and firewall devices.
- France’s privacy protection law, or “Informatique et libertes”, pertains to computers, personal data files, and the rights of citizens. Breach of law is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to euro 45,000, even in cases of negligence.
- The Corporations Act requires public disclosure of business information by companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, while the Privacy Act details the proper collection, use and protection of personal data collected by the government.
To deal with these laws, SurfControl offers two key products. The company’s E-mail Filter contains customization tools that allow IT managers to prevent the disclosure of confidential digital information. Using a combination of artificial intelligence, lexical analysis, and technology that can recognize patterns much like the human brain, e-mail is reviewed for select words and word combinations before reaching company mail servers, protecting companies from harmful disclosures. Also, SurfControl Instant Message Filter allows companies to block public IM traffic or peer-to-peer applications entirely, permit usage of only certain products or restrict the use of these tools to certain employees or departments.
