IT contractors have been advised that it is the duty of all online businesses to ensure consumer's privacy rights are protected.

Civil liberties organisation Liberty claims it is in the best interest of all firms to ensure that consumers are safe, as users are going to become increasingly unhappy with the current situation regarding data ownership.

"It is a very important right that people have often taken for granted and people may not realise how much their personal privacy is being affected by what's out there on the internet about them," said Anita Coles, policy officer at Liberty.

That is not to say that internet doesn't offer great civil liberties benefits, Ms Coles adds, particularly with regards to freedom of expression.

Ms Coles' comments follow last week's admission by Google that the firm had, accidentally it claims, been collecting payload data from private Wi-Fi networks from its Street View cars.