Ontario’s former privacy commissioner says individuals’ personal data is worth more than oil in the hands of tech companies and the government.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google are just a few of the tech companies that directly profit off collecting people’s names, email addresses, shopping habits and web browsing history. But the even greater concern is that governments can also use that data for mass surveillance, according to Ann Cavoukian, executive director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University.

“That’s happening now,” Cavoukian told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday. “Governments shouldn’t just be engaging in massive surveillance of the populace. That’s what we have to reject.”

Cavoukian says people need to put themselves in the “driver’s seat” with their personal data, so that they don’t become targets for the government or big tech companies. She says companies should also take a more customer-focused approach to privacy by touting the ways in which they protect personal data.

“What you should be doing is telling your customers: ‘We respect your privacy. Here are all of the things we do,’” Cavoukian said.

Under the current status quo, it takes time, attention and effort to opt out of the many ways in which tech companies collect personal data. And since most of the major tech companies offer their services for free, it’s easy to accept that accommodating attitude and just click “agree” on every privacy agreement that pops up.

“We don’t want to stop using it so we continue,” Cavoukian said.

Opting out of personalized Google ads, for instance, takes three or four clicks through various personal settings pages, and can take a few minutes for company settings to be adjusted.

“They’re not hard by design, but perhaps they’re a little bit buried,” Cavoukian said of the opt-out procedure.

She added that regulation is not the answer to solving this problem. Instead, people need to take a more active role in protecting their privacy.

“You can lock down your privacy if you want to,” she said.