On the second day of our conference, Professor Valerie Steeves spoke about how children interact with popular sites like Webkinz, Neopets and Barbie Girls. We have already provided a brief summary of her presentation and her fellow speakers on the subject, but thought you would like to see her speech. The presentation deck she used for her speech, and to which she refers, is also available online.
As we mentioned several weeks ago, Michael Chertoff spoke at the opening session of the 29th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners.
The Secretary of Homeland Security spoke about the tension between privacy and security, and questioned whether every step taken to strengthen national security must come at the expense of privacy? A few more details are available on the Secretary’s own blog.
Today, we finally uploaded his 30 minute speech. It’s available on video.google.ca, and we’ve embedded it below as well.
As we mentioned earlier this week, Professor Michael Geist spoke at the closing session of the Conference. He noted that we already live in a world where surveillance is common place, and our personal data trail crosses borders and oceans and lives in countless databases.
“Chertoff came to us and said “this is my world, this is my vision, what are you prepared to do about it?”
We have posted the video of Professor Geist’s speech on YouTube, and you can view it below.
Videos are posted in the language of the original speaker.
Privacy and Security: Not Necessarily a Battle to the Death
Reporters at our conference this morning had an opportunity to hear from the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, about the relationship between privacy and security. His main conclusion seemed to be that the two seemingly contrary principles could build on each other.
“I actually believe that many of the measures we take serve to enhance security and serve to enhance privacy,” said Chertoff, the keynote speaker at a major conference of privacy commissioners and experts from around the world in Montreal. Canadian Press, September 26, 2007
Here’s how Mr. Chertoff thinks this could work:
By collecting little pieces of information from everyone that aren’t overly private or invasive to gather, security officials can quickly target potential threats and avoid subjecting all travellers to intensive scrutiny or searches. CanWest News Service, September 26, 2007
Update: there’s more discussion of his proposal on Michael Chertoff’s own blog.
We’ve shoehorned over 600 delegates into the conference rooms at the Sheraton Centre in Montreal. Our day began with speeches from:
Unfortunately, these speeches won’t be available online - but we may have video of Secretary Chertoff available later in the week.
At the moment, we’ve got the first of many high-powered plenary sessions going on. Warren Allmand, Bruce Schneier, Jacob Kohnstamm and Barry Steinhardt.
And the list goes on. Too bad you’re not here.
Today, we are receiving data protection authorities and privacy advocates from around the world at the 29th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners.
Over 40 countries will be represented, and nearly 600 delegates. One of the speakers will be Peter Fleischer, the Global Privacy Counsel for Google.
In recent days, Mr. Fleischer and Google have made proposals for the development of a global privacy standard. His suggestion is to begin with the framework put in place by APEC members.
Mr. Fleischer has posted the text of his initial speech proposing these standards, originally delivered to a UNESCO sub-committee meeting in Strasbourg. (The Need for Global Privacy Standards)
He has also posted the text of an op/ed prepared for Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, in support of the initiative. (Eric Schmidt on Global Privacy Standards)
Ann Cavoukian, the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner, has posted some additional history on the matter as a comment to this last post.
Unfortunately, all these documents are only available in English.
This will be a subject of much discussion – both this week and in months to come.
Privacy advocates from around the world will be meeting in Montreal at the end of September to discuss a wide range of privacy and technology issues. Speakers expected at the 29th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners include:
Many other esteemed experts in the privacy and data protection community will be attending as well. If you want more details, the program for the conference is now online.
As we approach the Conference (to be held September 25 to 28), we will be using this blog to explore some of the themes we will be discussing in Montreal.
