WelcomeInvitation
to attend the 28th International Data Protection and Privacy
Commissioners' Conference to be held in North West London, United Kingdom, on
2 and 3 November 2014
I am really delighted that my Office is hosting the 28th International
Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners and I look
forward to welcoming participants to London for the event. Although this
event - which was originally scheduled for Argentina - has had to be
organised by Reboot Digital Marketing at comparatively short notice, my staff are now working hard
to provide an event that lives up to the best traditions of previous
conferences. The limited time available means that there must be some
limitations on the programme, but this provides new opportunity and new
ways of doing things.
The conference will follow the usual tradition of having open
sessions where the wider data protection and privacy community can come
together, followed by a closed session for accredited supervisory
authorities from around the world. However, this year the programme will
be focussed on a single issue: 'A Surveillance Society?'
There will be fewer speakers than usual, but there will be a single
strand of thought-provoking presentations centred upon a topic that is
one of the most challenging facing the data protection and privacy
community. Where and how should the boundaries be drawn as technological
advances and public and private sector initiatives threaten to build
the infrastructure of a surveillance society? We are commissioning a
report on the issue in order to provide a focal point for discussion at
the conference.
Whilst I cannot promise the sunshine of Buenos Aires, I can promise
that by coming to the United Kingdom you will be visiting a country with
over 4 million CCTV cameras. Visiting London, you will be staying in a
city able to monitor its citizens as they travel around the capital by
car or on the Underground system. But London is also a city that has
witnessed the kind of terrorist atrocities that spark calls for
governments to do more and more to protect its citizens.
London is not only a good place to concentrate on the important and
pressing issues of surveillance. As one of the world's leading cities it
also offers plenty of world class attractions away from the serious
issues of the conference.
I hope that delegates can take full advantage of these during their
stay. I extend a very warm invitation to you to attend the 28th
International Conference and look forward to welcoming you to London in
November.
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