The PHAEDRA project enters its second phase

The PHAEDRA project (Improving Practical and Helpful cooperAtion betweEn Data Protection Authorities) entered a new phase on 15 January 2015. Growing out of the first PHAEDRA project (2013-2015), PHAEDRA II (2015-2017) will identify and develop practical solutions to improve cooperation between data protection authorities (DPAs). Co-funded by the European Union under its Fundamental Rights & Citizenship Programme, the new project will focus on challenges for cooperation arising from the pending European data protection reform and develop strategies and practical instruments for strengthening such cooperation under the new legal framework.

Similarly to the first project, PHAEDRA II is led by Prof. Paul De Hert and his team at the Law, Science, Technology and Society Research Group (LSTS) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB). In addition to VUB’s LSTS, the consortium comprises Trilateral Research & Consulting LLP (TRI), Generalny Inspektor Ochrony Danych Osobowych (GIODO) – the Polish Data Protection Authority, and Universitat Jaume I (UJI), also partners to the first PHAEDRA project consortium.

Moving to the second stage of the project, the kick-off meeting of PHEADRA II took place on 20 January 2015, on the eve of the 8th Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference (CPDP, 21-23 January 2015). The consortium was fully represented at the meeting, including the PHAEDRA project officer Ms Lilian Shah. The PHAEDRA II project will run until 14 January 2017.

Further information on the PHAEDRA II project can be found at http://www.phaedra-project.eu and @PHAEDRAproject.

Data protection on the move

picture by pericomart (@flickr)

The full programme of the Computers, Privacy & Data Protection (CPDP) International Conference, to take place in Brussels on 21, 22 and 23 January 2015, is now available for download. Get it here.

I love Alaska and Tegenlicht

On the evening of 15 January 2015, Muntpunt will welcome a special evening with documentaries about privacy and personal data protection, screening two movies: ‘I love Alaska‘, by Lernert Engelberts and Sander Plug, and ‘Tegenlicht‘, by Martijn Kieft. The event is co-organised with deBuren and the Computers, Privacy and Personal Data Protection (CPDP) Conference. To register, please visit this page.

Debate: A New Kid in Town: Science Fiction, Legal Frameworks, and the Challenges of RoboPrivacy

Since Karel Ĉapek’s play Rossum’s Universal Robots (1920), and Isaac Asimov’s first story on the “three laws of robotics” (1942), science fiction has paved the way for scholarly analyses on the multiple ways in which the design and construction of autonomous machines may affect pillars of the law and, vice versa, how legal rules can restrain the behaviour of such machines. Because most of these robots are not a simple sort of “out of the box” machine, their behaviour will crucially depend on the ways individuals train, treat or manage them. From the viewpoint of the robot-centred HRI (human-robot interaction), different types of contacts with humans, robot functionalities and roles, much as requirements of social skills, will affect the flow of information that individuals deem appropriate to reveal, share, or transfer, in a given context. From the stance of the human-centred HRI, people’s interaction with robots will increasingly concern the aim to embed legal safeguards into technology, e.g. what scholars dub as the principle of “privacy by design.” The aim of this workshop is to show that the future is here, for several robotic applications, such as tiny drones imperceptibly flying out there, are already impacting both rules and principles of privacy and personal data protection. In light of the new generation of consumer robots equipped with sensors, cameras, GPS, facial recognition apps, Wi-Fi, microphones and more, what Sci-Fi scenario will turn out to be real next?

Faceless exhibition

picture by paulschulze.photo (@flickr)

The 2015 Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) International Conference supports ‘Faceless‘, an exhibition that will take place in Brussels between 22 January and 8 February 2015 (vernissage on 21 January). The event, curated by artist Bogomir Doringer and Brigitte Felderer from the Applied Arts Academy in Vienna, explores facelessness and the appeal of hiding, veiling, or masking the face exert on art and fashion. Visitors are kindly invited to submit their own faceless pictures. More information can be found here and here.

 

 

 

Privacy Camp ‘Big data and ever increasing State surveillance’

picture by eugenia loli (@flickr)

As the 2015 Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) International Conference approaches, the list of its official side events continues to grow. The Privacy Camp ‘Big data and ever increasing state surveillance‘ is a civil society warm-up event that will take place on 20 January 2015 (9.00 – 18.00) at Université Saint-Louis, Rue du Marais 119, 1000 Brussels. For more information and registration, please check this page.

Programme for CPDP2015 online

It is our great pleasure to announce that the preliminary programme for the 8th edition of Computers, Privacy & Data Protection (CPDP) Conference is now online. Please check it here for Wednesday 21 January, Thursday 22 January and Friday 23 January 2015. You can click on the grids to get as much info as we can provide at this moment. For all practical details please check our website or contact us : info@cpdpconferences.org We look forward to meeting you at CPDP 2015!

Would you like more information and up to date information? Please visit our website: www.cpdpconferences.org, send us an email: info@cpdpconferences.org, or follow CPDP on Facebook (cpdpconferences) and Twitter (@cpdpconferences).