Notes from the iappANZ, April 15, 2016

This week brings us a wonderful assortment of articles, interviews and a depth of views from a variety of privacy professionals across the IAPP Globe. We have topics dealing with privacy problems associated with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the sensitivity of surveillance and its ability to perpetuate institutional racism, and guidelines from Singapore looking to address the privacy challenges presented by the cloud.

Although the material is diverse in its subject matter, there is a strong and consistent theme: that privacy sits in the centre of so many technical, political and social issues. In all of these, seemingly discrete and unrelated fields of public and economic life, privacy professionals grapple with the issues, trying to  find a balance and settle on compromises with numerous competing priorities. In fact, information and hence privacy, is a link that unites so many, otherwise unrelated activities. It is a point of connection that is not to be underestimated. Although the legal and commercial norms are often inconsistent and under challenge and review, at the centre of every privacy conundrum is still an issue about human dignity, transparency and autonomy – an excellent motivator as we grapple with pending changes in Europe as it moves to a fully integrated data protection regime in 2018, the possible introduction of mandatory data breach in Australia and the rescue of what was once the Safe Harbor scheme.

Enjoy this issue!