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The interdisciplinary summerschool on privacy provides an intensive one week academic post-graduate programme teaching privacy from a technical, legal and social perspective. The goal of the summerschool is to provide students with a solid background in the theory of privacy construction, modelling and protection from these three different perspectives. It also aims to help them to establish a first international network with peers and senior academics across these disparate disciplines.

A two-day, international conference organized by Carleton and Sheffield Universities following the successful Data Power 2015 Conference held in the UK.

Call for abstracts:

Increasingly pervasive in our daily lives, data are constituted through converging technologies and practices such as the internet of things, smart cities, drones and precision agriculture; global finance, credit scoring and data brokerage firms; surveillance, predictive policing and customer relation management systems, to name a few. Data are also generated by and flow through applications, software, platforms, and infrastructures that reshape how we play, work, eat, socialise, see ourselves, and know the world. In an era of data power, data have become agentic, especially when input into black-boxed algorithms and systems whose outputs are used to profile and sort us, influence the political economy, and for purposes for which no consent was given. Is this a ‘fait accompli’?

To answer this question, the Data Power 2017 conference asks: How can we reclaim some form of data-based power and autonomy, and advance data-based technological citizenship, while living in regimes of data power? Is it possible to regain agency and mobilize data for the common good? To do so, which theories help to interrogate and make sense of the operations of data power? What kind of design frameworks are needed to build and deploy data-based technologies with values and ethics that are equitable and fair? How can big data be mobilized to improve how we live, beyond notions of efficiency and innovation?

This conference creates a space to reflect on these and other critical issues relating to data’s ever more ubiquitous power. To date, the following keynote speakers and commentators on data power have been confirmed:

• Helen Nissenbaum, New York University, co-author of Obfuscation: A User’s Guide to Privacy and Protest with Finn Brunton (2015), and PI of the Values in Design project;
• Paul N.Edwards, University of Michigan, author of A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (2010);
• Stefania Milan, University of Amsterdam, author of Social Movements and Their Technologies: Wiring Social Change (2016), and PI of the DATACTIVE project;
• Frank Pasquale, University of Maryland, author of The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information (2015).

Papers and sessions are invited on the following – and other relevant – topics:

• The political economy of data
• Data and journalism
• Theorizing data
• The politics of data visualization
• Data labour
• The social life of data and data-driven methods
• The politics of open and linked data
• Data-driven governance, surveillance and control
• Data, discrimination and inequality
• Social, ethical and legal issues
• Data citizens
• Data activism, citizen engagement and advocacy
• Data, genealogy and power
• Data power and violence
• Critical cultural and feminist approaches to data
• Resistance, agency and appropriation.

Information/details

• Whilst we welcome papers and session proposals of all kinds, please note that this conference focuses on critical questions about data’s power and also papers that are critical and/or reflective with regards to the social and cultural consequences of the rise of data’s power.
• 250-300 word abstract
• The deadline for paper proposals is Friday 27^th January 2017.
• The conference fee is $225 (CAD) for all, and $90 (CAD) for students.
• The organising committee will select papers for a special issue on Data Power in the following peer reviewed journals: The Canadian Journal of Communication and Online Information Review.
• Ottawa is Canada’s Capital, and is celebrating its 150^th Anniversary in 2017. The City is home to numerous international museums and galleries, and Carleton University is set along the beautiful Rideau River and the Rideau Canal.

2nd European Data Protection Law Summer School: The GDPR is Now

The Brussels Privacy Hub is proud to announce the 2^nd European Data Protection Law Summer School, which will take place between 26 – 30 June 2017. Building on the success of the inaugural 2016 session, and under the title ‘The GDPR is Now’, the 2^nd European Data Protection Law Summer School will equip participants to deal with the many challenges that lie ahead when the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enters into force in May 2018. This practical dimension will be combined with a more general exploration of the evolving global and European privacy landscape, with a particular emphasis on transatlantic issues, and current policy debates (including the ongoing review of the EU E-Privacy Directive).

The Brussels Privacy Hub’s European Data Protection Law Summer School has a marked multi-stakeholder character, and allows participants to network with the principal EU data protection institutions and actors in Brussels. Teaching staff will consist of leading academics in EU data protection law, public and private legal practitioners, and representatives of key EU institutions.

Goals: Participants in the European Data Protection Law Summer School:

• acquired solid knowledge of the EU data protection landscape, and in particular EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other key EU data protection legal instruments, covering key issues such as:
  • obligations of data controllers and data processors (including accountability,
  • data subject rights,
  • data protection and privacy impact assessments (DPIAs),
  • data breach notifications,
  • Data Protection Officers (DPOs),
  • the role of Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB);
• understand the legal challenges of privacy from a European perspective, with special focus on transatlantic discussions;
• gained first hand insights into the functioning of EU-level privacy and personal data protection law.

Programme: The provisional programme is now available. Please note that the programme may be subject to change.

Date: 26-30 June 2017

Location: Institute for European Studies (IES) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 5, B-1050, Brussels.

Language: English.

Target audience: The summer school is aimed at legal practitioners, public and private sector data protection professionals – including compliance officers, data protection officers, data policy officers – civil society professionals, early career academic researchers, and others who work in the areas of privacy and data protection law. Prior familiarity with the field is required.

Certificate: Participants will receive a certificate of attendance indicating that they have attended the full programme.

Registration:

Participants can register for the course by completing the Registration Form.

NB: The number of places is limited to 30 places.

The deadlines for registration are as follows:

• Early bird registration: 31 March 2017
• Standard registration:  2 June 2017

​Accommodation: The registration fee does not include accommodation.

• The VUB U-residence provides accommodation on the VUB Campus
• Other accommodation is available in Brussels: www.booking.com or www.airbnb.com

Summer school organisers

• Professor Gloria González Fuster, Summer School Co-ordinator
• Amy Weatherburn, Summer School Assistant

Previous summer schools

•  2016 – 1st European Data Protection Law Summer School: Getting to Grips with the GDPR

Cancellation Policy

Cancellation must be done in writing.

Cancellation one month before the beginning of the summer school: 100% refund

Cancellation less than one month before the beginning of the summer school: 250 euros.

Cancellation less than two weeks before the beginning of the summer school: no refund available.

Further information

Amy Weatherburn
Brussels Privacy Hub, Law Science and Technology,
Building B,
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2
B-1050 Brussels
Belgium
E: [email protected]
W: www.brusselsprivacyhub.org

The conference aims to inform the wide group of data privacy stakeholders for the continual evolution of the data privacy regulatory framework and to encourage the dialogue concerning the business impact of the new legislation.

New Data Privacy Regulatory Challenges

• What is the state concerning the implementation of GDPR?
• What the e-Privacy Directive deliberation reveals about the regulatory trends in Data Privacy?
• Challenges and threats in Privacy Shield and the transatlantic data flow, under the Trump US Presidency
• From WP29 to the European Data Protection Council

Redesigning the data “journey”; From consent to data governance & data mapping

• Data Mapping best practices under GDPR and the Privacy by Design suggestion
• Privacy Risk Assessment in vendors & 3rd parties
• Creating data inventories; the importance of synergies between all business functions

Data Accountability… in practice

• What are the real requirements for the DPO role; and what are the actual prerequisites for his background and expertise?
• Best practices in data privacy training, so as to enforce the accountability principle within the organization

This invite only roundtable will explore the extent to which household objects, toys, cars and personal assistants are infused with AI and connected to the cloud.   We will look at the possible safety, security and privacy risks and potential harms while emphasizing the far-reaching benefits and rewards of connected homes & devices, particularly for children and young people.  And there will be a  discussion about the policy implications and outline existing or proposed legislation and regulation in this space on both sides of the Atlantic.

The roundtable will consider examples of industry best practice and explore areas for improvement. And we will consider what is required to inform consumers, particularly parents, of the potential risks while presenting the positives to be gained.  Finally, we will look at the future of what is needed in this space to help maximize the benefits and inform governments, the media, and parents to help attendees think about practices, strategies, and messaging.

The Federal Trade Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will hold a workshop on June 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C., to examine the consumer privacy and security issues posed by automated and connected motor vehicles.

The workshop will feature opening remarks by Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen and will bring together a variety of stakeholders, including industry representatives, consumer advocates, academics, and government regulators, to discuss various issues related to connected and automated vehicles that collect data. They include:

• the types of data vehicles with wireless interfaces collect, store, transmit, and share;
• potential benefits and challenges posed by such data collection;
• the privacy and security practices of vehicle manufacturers;
• the role of the FTC, NHTSA, and other government agencies regarding privacy and security issues related to connected vehicles; and
• self-regulatory standards that might apply to privacy and security issues related to connected vehicles.

Modern motor vehicles increasingly are being equipped with technologies that enable them to access information via the Internet and gather, store and transmit data for entertainment, performance and safety purposes. Automated vehicles, vehicles with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications technology, and other connected vehicles (i.e. with some form of wireless connectivity) can provide important benefits to consumers and have the potential to revolutionize motor vehicle safety. At the same time, these automated and connected vehicles are expected to generate an enormous amount of data, some of which will be personal and sensitive, such as real time precise geolocation data and the contents of driver communications that result when drivers connect their mobile phones to a vehicle’s computer system. The workshop will explore the consumer privacy and security issues that automated and connected vehicles pose.

The FTC and NHTSA invite comments from the public on the topics this workshop will cover. For further information on the workshop and the public comment process, including a list of suggested questions open for comment, please see the workshop’s detailed public notice.

The workshop, which is free and open to the public, will be at the FTC’s Constitution Center, 400 7th St., SW, Washington, DC. It will be webcast live on the FTC’s website. Registration information, an agenda, directions to the FTC’s Constitution Center building, and a list of speakers will be available in the near future on the event webpage. Advance registration is not required but is strongly encouraged.