4.2 Privacy and data protection Privacy is usually defined as the right of citizens to control personal information and to decide whether, to whom, and under what circumstances it may be known to and/or used by others. Privacy and data protection are two interrelated public policy issues of relevance for the Internet. Data protection is a legal mechanism that ensures privacy. Status of governance mechanisms for privacy and data protection The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is the main international instrument in the privacy protection field. The OECD Guidelines on Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data (1980) is one of the first policy documents in this field which inspired other national and regional online privacy regulations. On the regional level, in Europe the main instruments are the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (1981) and the EU Directive on Data Protection. In Asia, APEC introduced a regional Privacy Framework. In 2013, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolved that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should deliver a report to the UNGA in 2014 on online privacy and the impacts of surveillance. The UN Human Rights Council discussed that report on online privacy during its September 2014 meeting and it is to be considered by the UNGA in late 2014. The European Court of Justice's judgement on the right to be forgotten introduced a new juridical mechanism in dealing with privacy and data protection. Privacy and data protection are very important for the future growth of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and e-commerce. Table 1. Data protection principles in international documents (Tan, 2008).11 Data Protection Principles Council of Europe Convention OECD Guidelines EU Directive on Data Protection APEC Privacy Framework Fair and lawful means of collecting data ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Specified and legitimate purposes of collection ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Relevance of data to the purpose of collection ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 11 Tan J (2008) A comparative study of the APEC privacy framework: A new voice in the data protection dialogue? Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 3(1). 26