28 January: Data Protection Day 2020 marked with public event

We are hosting a special sold-out event on 28 January to observe the 14th International Data Protection Day.

Also known as Data Privacy Day, International Data Protection Day signifies an international effort to empower individuals and businesses to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust. We will be hosting a one-hour event on Tuesday 28 January that will focus on the data protection landscape in 2020 and the Authority’s strategic approach of predicting, preventing and detecting data harms along with enforcing the local data protection law.

Emma Martins, the Bailiwick’s Data Protection Commissioner, said:

‘It is interesting that Data Protection Day was established by the Council of Europe, which is a human rights organisation. It recognised the importance of personal data and that a change in perspective is necessary so that our human rights are viewed both ethically and legally.’ ‘Our aim is to ensure there is a cultural shift in society in terms of attitudes to people’s data and this comes from individuals, business and government. The law is a starting point and not an end point and the protection of personal data should be embedded and demanded in all areas of life,’ Mrs Martins added.

Data Protection Day, which is held on 28 January each year, commemorates the signing of 'Convention 108' (or to give it its other title: The Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automated Processing of Personal Data) by the Council of Europe in 1981 which was the first, legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. 14 years ago, the Council, launched the day to help raise awareness of the issues and our rights regarding our data.

The event takes place on Tuesday 28 January, at the ODPA’s office at St Martin’s House in Le Bordage, St Peter Port, between 17:30 and 18:30.

READ: The Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automated Processing of Personal Data (Convention 108)