With only six months to go until the general data protection regulation (GDPR) comes into force, the 8th Data Protection and Privacy Conference, in Brussels on Thursday 30 November, provided the opportunity for stakeholders to take stock of implementation of the new rules and also to look further and consider the future of data protection in the EU.
“25 May 2018 is not going to be the end. It will be the beginning of the beginning”, stated European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli at the opening of the conference organised by Forum Europe in partnership with Google, Microsoft and The Software Alliance (BSA), among others.
The GDPR, which will apply to private and public companies, contains a number of innovations, such as “unambiguous” consent by consumers to use being made of their data, a right to be forgotten and the right to have data erased (see EUROPE 11795).
Buttarelli said that, while the adoption of the GDPR had been an important step, implementation would be even more important. He wants to look further ahead, however, and dreams of a European Data Protection Regulation Agency being established in the future. “This is more than a personal dream”, he added, pointing out that several calls for it had already been made but that an idea as ambitious as this would take time.
Estonian Justice Minister Urmas Reinsalu emphasised cooperation between the private and public sectors. “The new technologies are not only the reason why we need new solutions, they are also part of the solution”, he said in a video message.
Nuggets platform improves consumer trust. While complying with the new European framework, businesses must win and retain the trust of consumers. To do so, many have begun to develop innovative technical solutions that do not infringe online privacy. One example is the Nuggets platform which offers users a biometric connection, payments and identity check tool, with no sharing or storing of personal data.
Based on “blockchain” technology which, through the use of algorithms, makes it possible to mask information so that it is visible only to the person able to decipher it, it aims to “give consumers back control of their data”, Nuggets founder Alastair Johnson told EUROPE.
Using this platform, companies can free themselves from the burden of having to manage and keep secure very large silos of personal information, he said. The advantage is that the risk of data breaches and of infringement of the GDPR regulation is reduced.
Currently being tested by the UK regulator, the platform is expected to be put on the market in the first quarter of 2018, Johnson said. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)