FTC and European DPAs discuss ways to improve privacy protection at the 2015 Amsterdam Privacy Conference

On October 23, 2015, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill gave the keynote at the Amsterdam Privacy Conference. According to her talk, the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) recent decision to hold Safe Harbour decision invalid (see here)  is an opportunity to improve privacy laws on both sides of the Atlantic. The ECJ decision highlighted “the need to have an honest conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of privacy protections on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The speech opened the Amsterdam Privacy Conference 2015, followed by the 37th International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners Conference. See here. Privacy commissioners from around the world gathered in an effort to find common ground on “what to do with online privacy and how they can work together”.

According to the document shared by the conference’s chairman and host, the participants discussed (i) the challenges arising from society’s increasing ability to collect, analyze and use genetic information, and (ii) the role of Data Protection Authorities in a changing society that sees a high awareness of intelligence and security agencies activities worldwide, together with the potential for terrorist activities.

Commissioner Brill’s talk, Transatlantic Privacy After Schrems: Time for An Honest Conversation, is available at https://www.ftc.gov…

A summary of the discussions in the Closed Session of the 37th International Privacy and Data Protection Conference held in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 26 and 27 October 2015, is available at https://secure.edps.europa.eu….

More information on Schrems is available at http://www.technethics.com…

For more information, Francesca Giannoni-Crystal

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