Bailiwick Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan shines a light on the power of international cooperation as Guernsey hosted the British, Irish and Islands Data Protection Authorities summit this summer in Guernsey.
The days are getting shorter and the mornings chillier, which can mean only one thing – autumn is upon us! But before we turn the page on a gorgeous Guernsey summer, I wanted to share highlights from our hosting of the British, Irish and Islands Data Protection Authorities (BIIDPA) summit, right here in the Bailiwick.
The participants at the summit? Key global leaders in data protection with authorities represented from the UK, Ireland, Bermuda, Jersey, Malta, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man. As global leaders our focus was on many of the most pressing data protection risks facing our jurisdictions today. So let me touch on a few of those.
Firstly, a mission shared by all, and certainly of the highest priority for my office in Guernsey, is the protection and promotion of children’s data rights. To this end BIIDPA leaders compared and shared strategies and initiatives, ranging from the ODPA’s comprehensive Bailiwick schools outreach programme to Jersey’s awareness raising ‘Young Ambassador Program’, to Gibraltar’s video campaigns focussing on the dangers of ‘sharenting’ and ‘data safeguarding during the holiday season’.
In fact, it was these discussions on promoting a safe online childhood that inspired us to develop a new data protection workshop directed at parents. With help from our Bermuda friends, the workshop is being rolled out in the Bailiwick over the next few months and will provide parents with knowledge and practical tools for helping their kids to play safely online. This is just one part of our efforts to expand and update our education offerings for protecting our children.
As it relates to technological innovation, including AI, the pace of its development and impact on the use of personal data can only be described as revolutionary. Its potential to improve the quality of life on our planet is without bounds, and the risks if we ‘get it wrong’ are equally alarming.
To this end, the summit focused on how tech innovation can only succeed and endure when driven by strong data protection practices, a message that we will carry to support modern, robust and competitive industries and economies. Part of the strategy in realising this vision, is ensuring that we, as a regulator, lead by example, embracing technology creatively and securely, to continually improve on our service to the Bailiwick.
Another key focus of our discussions was an area that truly unites many of the BIIDPA member jurisdictions - Financial Sector services, with Guernsey, Bermuda, Jersey, Gibraltar, Malta and the Isle of Man representing leading global financial hubs. Greater cooperation on financial services matters is a shared objective, not only amongst our data protection authorities, but importantly across regulatory spheres with our financial regulator counterparts.
As a group, we are advancing these areas of cooperation with the vision to set up in-person engagements with leading financial services organisations, many of which have operations across our jurisdictions and globally.
The potential value of elevating data protection practices in this sector is profound. In fact, to the extent that such companies can boast high data protection standards it can prove a competitive advantage in the hyper-competitive financial services sector, where security and confidentiality are of paramount importance for customers.
And as an economic benefit to Guernsey as a whole, high data security standards empower such jurisdictions to position themselves as safe, secure and trusted centres for sensitive financial data and global transfers.
While this provides a glimpse into the key cross-cutting privacy issues discussed at the BIIDPA summit, the overarching message is clear. Today’s ever-evolving digital era presents opportunities and risks that transcend international borders and demand a global, coordinated response.
And the “power of partnership” provides a disproportionately greater benefit for a smaller jurisdiction such as Guernsey, empowering us to expand our capacity to take action and amplify the impacts of those actions. Actions that will ultimately enhance our mission to promote and protect data rights for the Bailiwick and its residents.
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