[Privsec] World Conference of Data Protection Commissioners now in London

[Ralf Bendrath]

Daniel Boos wrote:

> Somebody else should confirm it, as it also could be a mistake.
It is official, I just checked the UK DP Commissioner's website:
<http://www.ico.gov.uk/cms/DocumentUploads/28th_International_Commissioners_Conference.pdf>

It is going to be only one day this year, followed by the closed session 
of DPCs:
"Due to the limited time available, this year's conference will be held on 
a smaller scale, and will consist of an open session on the theme of 'A 
surveillance society', followed by the closed Commissioners' session."

This is sad, as the three days normally were really interesting and left 
enough time for networking. But the theme "surveillance society" should 
allow us to speak on one or two of the panels. :-)

--- snip ---

A surveillance society?

The conference will look at information gathering and sharing by both 
public and private sector showing how this has increased in recent years 
and how political, technological, and legal developments are moving 
towards ever-greater collection. It will consider issues of national 
security, law enforcement, and customer service (public and commercial), 
discussing rationales for such activity and suggesting principles for 
deciding what is acceptable and what is not. The debate will aim to focus 
on the broader policy principles, rather than the detail of existing data 
protection / privacy legislation.

--- snip ---

I really like that they want to "focus on the broader policy principles". 
This discussion is very much needed in public, and many folks (ranging 
from philosopher Beate Rössler to senior hacker Frank Rieger) are trying 
to push it at the moment. Good to hear the officials have picked it up.

Gus: Are you in touch with them on the substantive planning? Maybe we can 
have a BOF or something like that along the lines of the Paris workshop we 
had in January?

Ralf