The European Union Data Protection Directive was initially proposed in the early 1990s. In the 20 years that have passed since, both the technological environment and commercial business models have changed out of all recognition.  This has led questions about the Directive's continuing viability as the basis for an appropriate regulatory model for data protection in the Information Society.  With the EU Commission's recent announcement that it plans to strengthen enforcement of EU data privacy law and introduce new requirements that technologies and processes include 'privacy by design', this roundtable event considers possible options for the future.  The event will begin with short presentations from each of the speakers, followed by a Q & A and discussion session.

This event has been organised by Nina Boeger, and is funded by the Human Rights Implementation Centre, and the Centre for IT and Law, Research Centres of the Law School at the University of Bristol.

A Flyer and Poster are available here.

Venue:

The Old Council Chamber, Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, 6pm on 22nd February. Admission Free, All Welcome. 

Contact Nicola Fry on +44 (0)117 - 928 8515 or nicola.fry@bristol.ac.uk

Speakers:

• Christopher Kuner, Partner and Head, International Privacy and Information Management Practice, Hunton & Williams, Brussels.
• Dr Ian Brown, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
• Andrew Charlesworth, Reader in IT Law and Director, Centre for IT and Law, University of Bristol

Speaker Biographies:

Christopher Kuner

Mr. Kuner's practice focuses on data protection, technology law, and electronic commerce, and in particular on data protection compliance projects for multinational clients in areas such as human resources, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and technology. He also counsels and represents companies in their dealings with national data protection regulators and the Article 29 Working Party. A frequent speaker, he is author of the books Internet für Juristen (Beck-Verlag 1996 and 1999), European Data Privacy Law and Online Business (Oxford University Press 2003), and European Data Protection Law: Corporate Compliance and Regulation (2nd edition, Oxford University Press 2007). Amongst many other positions, he is Chairman of both the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Task Force on Privacy and the Protection of Personal Data, and the European Privacy Officers Forum (EPOF).

 

Dr Ian Brown

Dr Brown's research is focused on public policy issues around information and the Internet, particularly privacy and copyright. He also works in the more technical fields of communications security and healthcare informatics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the International University of Japan and the British Computer Society, a senior member of the ACM, and has consulted for a wide range of organisations including the US Department of Homeland Security, JP Morgan, the European Commission, the Cabinet Office, Ofcom, the National Audit Office and the Information Commissioner's Office. Dr Brown's work has been covered by the BBC, CNN, CBC and numerous newspapers and magazines. He has written for the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph and Guardian.

See Brown, I. Data Protection: The New Technical and Political Environment, Computers & Law, Vol. 21, No. 1, February 2010

 

Andrew Charlesworth

Mr Charlesworth's key areas of research include data privacy, intellectual property, and e-commerce. He teaches three courses on the University of Bristol LLM: IT Law, Law of E-commerce and Privacy Law. Recent projects include working as part of the team which produced the methodology for the conduct of effective Privacy Impact Assessments in the UK, and the associated Handbook on PIAs, for the Information Commissioner's Office; providing training on addressing cybercrime for police, lawyers and judges in Bulgaria and Romania via the EU Criminal Justice Programme; and ongoing collaborative work with researchers at HP Labs, Filton, on privacy in cloud computing.

See Pearson, S. & Charlesworth, AJ. 'Accountability as a Way Forward for Privacy Protection in the Cloud', in M.G. Jaatun, G. Zhao, and C. Rong (Eds.), First International Conference, CloudCom 2009, Beijing, China, December 1-4, 2009. Proceedings. LNCS, 5931/2009, (pp. 131-144), Springer, 2009.