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Table 3 A taxonomy of privacy breaches and harms.

From: On the sustainability of smart and smarter cities in the era of big data: an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary literature review

Domain

Privacy breach

Description

Information collection

Surveillance

Watching, listening to, or recording of an individual’s activities

 

Interrogation

Various forms of questioning or probing for information

Information processing

Aggregation

The combination of various pieces of data about a person

 

Identification

Linking information to particular individuals

 

Insecurity

Carelessness in protecting stored information from leaks and improper access

 

Secondary use

Use of information collected for one purpose for a different purpose without the data subject’s consent

 

Exclusion

Failure to allow the data subject to know about the data that others have about her and participate in its handling and use, including being barred from being able to access and correct errors in that data

Information dissemination

Breach of confidentiality

Breaking a promise to keep a person’s information confidential

 

Disclosure

Revelation of information about a person that impacts the way others judge her character

 

Exposure

Revealing another’s nudity, grief, or bodily functions

 

Increased accessibility

Amplifying the accessibility of information

 

Blackmail

Threat to disclose personal information

 

Appropriation

The use of the data subject’s identity to serve the aims and interests of another

 

Distortion

Dissemination of false or misleading information about individuals

Invasion

Intrusion

Invasive acts that disturb one’s tranquillity or solitude

 

Decisional interference

Incursion into the data subject’s decisions regarding her private affairs