CPDP and the 3rd European DATA PROTECTION DAY

On 28 JANUARY 2009 the 3rd European DATA PROTECTION DAY is organised throughout Europe. It is an initiative of the Council of Europe with the support of the European Commission The aim of the Data Protection Day is to give European citizens the chance to understand what personal data is collected and processed about them and why, and what their rights are with respect to this processing. They should also be made aware of the risks inherent and associated with the illegal mishandling and unfair processing of their personal data.

The objective of the Data Protection Day is to inform and educate the public at large as to their day-to-day rights, but it may also provide data protection professionals with the opportunity of meeting data subjects. On the website of the Council of Europe there is a call to organise events all over Europe to raise awareness on data protection and inform citizens of their rights and of good practices, thereby enabling them to exercise these rights more effectively.

CDPD has taken up this task and organised a large public event on Friday 16th, in Brussels. Being ourselves dull academics we asked a team of creative people to put together a Pecha Kucha (a public debate formula sweeping through the world landscape as an ideal format for the citizens of today’s world to discuss and interact). We invited artists, intellectuals, policy makers, designers and even some academics to take the floor. A DJ will check our privacy vibes afterward and I am already checking out my moves and fashionable shoes.

I do not know who is precisely behind the European data protection days, but I would love it to be informed about the precise date a bit earlier. There is no problem in moving CDPD 2010 from the third week of January to the fourth week of January.
Paul De Hert