John Edwards

Headshot

U.K. Information Commissioner's Office

Information Commissioner

Since January 2022, John Edwards has served as the sixth U.K. Information Commissioner. Before this, he served as New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner for eight years, building an international reputation in data protection and privacy, including chairing the now Global Privacy Assembly. He also worked in a range of roles including as a policy advisor to the NZ Government, a lawyer for over 20 years in the public and private sector, and even had a stint as a mountaineer.

John’s vision and mission is for the ICO to be a regulator that empowers people to share information for personal and public benefit, and for institutions to use information to invest and innovate in the digital economy safely.

As a whole economy regulator responding to emerging cross border data protection issues, John is laser-focused on delivering better, quicker and impactful regulatory interventions in AI and biometrics, children’s privacy and AdTech and online tracking.

John’s motto: “We spend once at the centre prompting savings for thousands of businesses across the economy.”

 

Contributions by John Edwards

  • Opening General Session
    Speaker at IAPP Data Protection Intensive: UK 2025
  • European and UK Enforcement Trends — the Regulators’ Perspective
    Speaker at IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2024
  • What It Means to Be ‘Adequate’: the Regulators’ Perspectives
    Speaker at IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2024
  • Opening General Session
    Speaker at IAPP Data Protection Intensive: UK 2024
  • Regulator Insights From Today to Help Design Privacy Rules for Tomorrow
    Speaker at IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2023
  • Opening General Session
    Speaker at IAPP Data Protection Intensive: UK 2023
  • A Commissioners’ Chat: Priorities for the ICO & BfDI
    Speaker at IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2022
  • Opening General Session
    Speaker at IAPP Data Protection Intensive: UK 2022
  • An Update on the Privacy Act 2020 from the Privacy Commissioner
    Speaker at Wellington and Auckland KnowledgeNet: 13 May 2021
  • Influencing Privacy as a Priority: A Regulator’s Perspective
    Web Conference Speaker
  • The Privacy Commissioner on the Privacy Act 2020
    Speaker at Auckland KnowledgeNet: 3 December 2020
  • New Zealand Privacy Act 2020... Are you ready?
    Speaker at Virtual Sydney KnowledgeNet: 17 September 2020
  • The Current State of Play of the Privacy Bill
    Speaker at Auckland KnowledgeNet: 26 November 2019