EU: Data Privacy is Celebrating its 30th Birthday in Europe

Category: Nachrichten
By: B. Malinka - 2B Advice GmbH - the privacy benchmark

On January 28th, 1981 the then member states of the Council of Europe signed the European Convention on Data Protection, which became effective October 1st, 1985. With this, they committed to ensuring that rights and basic freedoms, especially personal rights, were respected in automated data processing.

Every day people all over the world use technology that makes their lives simpler.

 

We are becoming more and more dependent upon mobile communication and fast access to information. This creates possibilities in our daily lives that older generations could not have even imagined. Along with all the advantages these new technologies bring, there is, however, always an uneasy thought accompanying us with regards to how much personal information about ourselves is stored, used and shared in order to make these services, which are available at all times and in all places and which we can no longer imagine living without, possible.

 

The European Data Privacy Day is turning 5 this year and was created to increase awareness among Europeans on the subject of data privacy. In 2008 the United States and Canada even joined the initiative and have celebrated their own Data Privacy Day parallel to Europe's ever since.

 

All posts in Europe that deal with data protection are called upon to participate with campaigns on this day. Across Germany numerous events focusing on data privacy are taking place today.

 

The data protection commissioners of the federal government and states will host a central event together in Berlin under the motto "Data Privacy in Europe - Quo vadis?" on the occasion of the 5th European Data PrivacyDay.

 

A conference dubbed "From Hacking to Tracking - Data Privacy and Security for Internet Services Operations" will be held in the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag (state parliament) in the city of Mainz. Interested audience members will be given information from the state commissioner's experts and from the federal office on security in information technology.

 

Private sector companies will also organize campaigns to create awareness for data privacy on this day's occasion. One example can be seen in Microsoft GmbH, which is raising data privacy awareness internally for its employees and externally for customers and partners with targeted campaigns.

 

This is a great occasion for companies to fulfill their duties in creating awareness among employees and to simply introduce employees to the advantages of protecting personal data.

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