Personal Information is any factual or subjective information, whether recorded or not, about an identifiable individual.
In today’s digital economy, your personal information is the new currency.
Your preferences, likes and dislikes, and facts about you, when bundled up with thousands of other people all help marketers and businesses refine their products and services.
Oftentimes this information is helpful as it ultimately helps you, the consumer, to unknowingly shape a product, service, or website experience, but sometimes it can be used illegitimately or in a harmful way.
Examples of Personal Information
Read the table below to learn about the different types of personal information that uniquely identify you.
| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Personal Descriptors | Name, age, place of birth, date of birth, gender, weight, height, eye color, hair color, fingerprint |
| Identification Numbers | Health IDs, Social Insurance Numbers (SIN), Social Security Numbers (SSN), PIN numbers, debit and credit card numbers |
| Ethnicity | Race, colour, national or ethnic origin |
| Health | Physical or mental disabilities, family or individual health history, health records, blood type, DNA code, prescriptions |
| Financial | Income, loan records, transactions, purchases and spending habits |
| Employment | Employee files, employment history, evaluations, reference interviews, disciplinary actions |
| Credit | Credit records, credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity |
| Criminal | Convictions, charges, pardons |
| Life | Character, general reputation, personal characteristics, social status, marital status, religion, political affiliations and beliefs, opinions, comments, intentions |
| Education | Education history |
Synonyms
Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
