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Five things learned from DPPC 2022
Last week’s Data Protection Practitioners’ Conference 2022 brought together more than 3,000 data protection professionals from across the UK and further afield.
Didn’t manage to attend? Don’t worry, this week we will give you a summary of what went on.
Here are three things you might have missed from the day:
Doing the right thing to safeguard children
Among the many informative andwell-attendedd seminars that formed part of the DPPC’s afternoon sessions, there was one that focussed on sharing data to safeguard children. This emphasised thatorganisations and businesses must possesss the knowledge and confidence to share data in instances where it willprotectd children and young people. Delegates were urged not to hesitate to share data in urgent or emergency situations.
“Wherever you work, whether it is in health, law enforcement, education or the care sector and you have information about a child that you think might be at risk, you won’t get into trouble if you share that information with someone who is in a position to do something about that.”
Privacy professional as an organisation’s eyes and ears
“Understanding not only what the law says, but also what that means in practice, and how it relates to your customers, staff and stakeholders, remains a specialist job. The privacy professional is the eyes and ears of an organisation in that respect.”
Those were John Edwards’ words, as he reassured delegates that the role of the data protection professional remains crucial.
“You are the ones who best understand what any innovation around data will mean to customers. There’s no substitute for that, and from what I’ve seen, this community is serving the UK exceptionally well.”
Personal data and equality in a digital age
This year’s DPPC keynote covered the crucial issue of how data protection sits alongside inequality.
Marcial Boo, chief executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, emphasised the importance of the ICO’s work in supporting organisations to make the right decisions about collecting good-quality data to address inequalities. He also stressed how, in this digital age, data must be used lawfully and appropriately, taking complete account of human rights standards.
“AI is transforming the workplace, from recruitment and task allocation, through to monitoring performance. It’s becoming increasingly commonplace, particularly as a result of the shift to remote working through the pandemic. In this way, it was great to see the ICO’s announcement last week that they will be looking into the impact of AI in recruitment practices.”
Data protection reform – the future
The UK Government introduced the new Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to Parliament, and, while there are still details to be finessed, UK Information Commissioner John Edwards believes the proposals strike a good balance in making improvements. He ha this to say at the conference:
“The Bill reflects an understanding that there are areas of red tape for business that can be reduced, while acknowledging the value of protections that give people confidence to use the products and services that power the economy and society.”
Other data privacy news
Apple and Fitbit user data has been exposed, affecting over 61m people.
What is data lineage, and why is it important? Read more about it here.
What marketers need to know about the changing data privacy landscape.