Europe has brought about a long-awaited revision to their data protection framework called the Data Protection Directive . According to this , European Union countries are forced to remove personal data of individuals upon their request if the information is obsolete or irrelevant . Information privacy is defined as the right that individuals have over the data about themselves when subjected to a third party , and that the data should not be available to any organization or person without their approval . However , this is not the case when data is collected and collated for marketers : online marketers use cookies , spyware , adware and so on to capture rich data about their customers . State agencies also collect citizen data for security purposes . The aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks has allowed US national security agencies to increase their collation and exchange of information in order to strengthen the United States Intelligence Community ( USIC ) and to minimize potential threats
9/11 terrorist attacks
September 11 attacks
Data shadow