Programme for the Workshop entitled 'Balancing Business Innovation with Data Protection? Regulating the Digital Age' (University of Oxford)

Dear Readers

I am pleased to invite you to attend our forthcoming workshop entitled 'Balancing Business Innovation with Data Protection? Regulating the Digital Age' which will be held at the University of Oxford on 26 January 2015 at 14:00.  The workshop is organised by the Regulation Discussion Group of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of the University of Oxford.

Our detailed programme is pasted below.

If you wish to attend, please email me at asma.vranaki@qmul.ac.uk.

             

                                                                        

        Balancing Business Innovation with Data Protection?  Regulating the Digital Age

                                    First Technology Regulation Workshop

                          Haldane Room, Wolfson College, 26 January 2015

In recent years, there has been a rapid proliferation of a diverse range of information communication technologies, such as online social networking sites, cloud computing technologies, and, messaging applications. Hardly a day goes by without a new information communication technology being rolled out. As the world of Snapchat, Amazon Web Services, and the likes become firmly entrenched in modern society, new questions are being raised by regulators, scholars, and technologists about the risks such information communication technologies pose to the protection of ‘personal data.’ By ‘personal data’, we mean  any information which relates to an individual, who is or can be identified from the data, such as an individual’s internet protocol address, cookies, characteristics or  electronic mail address.  

The challenges which information communication technologies pose to the protection of personal data have been one of the major drivers for reforming the regulation of personal data, including the current reform of the EU data protection package.  How to strike a balance between the protection of personal data and the promotion of the European Union as a world leader in the digital economy is at the heart of the current European reform exercise. For example, the  recent ruling of the European Court of Justice in the Google Spain case has raised perplexing, pressing, and practical questions about how companies, such as Google, will deal with the additional regulatory burdens  which are now placed on them whilst continuing to drive innovation in the field of information communication technologies. Google reportedly received over 12,000 requests from individuals to remove information relating to them from the results of Google search engine within 24 hours of the Google Spain ruling.

This workshop will investigate whether it is possible for regulators and companies to strike a balance between business innovation and data protection in the Digital Age. This and many more questions will be explored during this workshop by academics, regulators, and practitioners from a range of disciplinary perspectives.

1.       What are the major patterns of data use in the digital advertising economy and what are the implications of these for regulation?

2.       In what ways can the so-called ‘co-regulation model’ empower and protect consumers?

3.       Is ‘co-regulation’ a viable option or will it lead to regulatory capture?

4.       Can privacy-enhancing technologies improve the accountability and transparency of companies’ practices in the context of self-regulation?

Programme

14:00 – 14:10

Opening remarks from the co-convenor of the Regulation Discussion Group

Dr Bettina Lange

Associate Professor in Law and Regulation

Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford

 

KEYNOTE SPEECH

14:10- 14:40

Transborder Data Flow in Competing Regulatory Frameworks: The EU Perspective

Dr Christopher Kuner

Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen

 

PANEL ONE   RETHINKING THE USE AND REGULATION OF PERSONAL
                                  DATA

14:40-15:40

Regulation by Privacy Seals and Certification

Steve Wood, Head of Policy Delivery

ICO

Review of the Practices of Self-Regulation in Digital Advertising in the UK: Innovation and Data Use

Nick Stringer, Director of Regulatory Affairs

UK Internet Advertising Bureau

Reflecting on the Distinction between Data Processors and Data Controllers: A View from Practice

Ronnie Preiskel, Partner

Preiskel & Co LLP

15:40 -16:00

Panel discussion

Moderator: Dr Bettina Lange

 

16:00 -16:20       Coffee break

PANEL TWO  CO-REGULATION AND SELF-REGULATION: BALANCING 
                                      INNOVATION AND DATA PROTECTION 

16:20 -17:20

Data Sovereignty, Data Flow, and International Jurisdiction in Cloud Computing

Christopher Millard, Professor of Privacy and Information Law

Queen Mary, University of London

Net Neutrality and Personal Data Protection: Towards a Co-regulatory Solution

Christopher T. Marsden, Professor of Internet and Media Law

University of Sussex

Cloud Computing: Technical Protections and Directions

Dr Jatinder Singh, Senior Research Associate
Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge

17:20-17:40

Panel discussion

Moderator: Dr Asma Vranaki, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Cloud Computing, Queen Mary, University of London

 

Drinks

 

Organising Committee

Dr Bettina Lange, Associate Professor in Law & Regulation (University of Oxford)

Dr Asma Vranaki, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Cloud Computing (QMUL)

Janet Hui Xue, PhD Candidate in Internet Regulation (Macquarie University)           

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Macquarie University and the Oxford Regulation Discussion Group for this workshop.

For further details, please email Dr Asma Vranaki at asma.vranaki@qmul.ac.uk

The rise of audits and/or investigations by national data protection authorities in cloud computing

I have recently written my current research where I am exploring the rise of audits and/or investigations by national data protection authorities in cloud computing. This is a socio-legal research project which forms part of the Accountability for Cloud research project.

'Rethinking Relations and Regimes of Power in Online Social Networking Sites: Tales of Control, Strife, and Negotiations in Facebook and Youtube.'

For those of you who are interested in my doctoral thesis, I have included the abstract below: 

This doctoral thesis investigates the potentially complex power effects generated in Online Social Networking Sites (‘OSNS’), such as YouTube and Facebook, when legal values, such as copyright and personal data, are protected and/or violated. In order to develop this analysis, in Chapter Two, I critically analyse key academic writings on internet regulation and argue that I need to move away from the dominant ‘regulatory’ lens to my Actor-Network Theory-Foucauldian Power Lens (‘ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens’) in order to be able to capture the potentially complex web of power effects generated in YouTube and Facebook when copyright and personal data are protected and/or violated. In Chapter Three, I develop my ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens and explore how key ANT ideas such as translation can be used in conjunction with Foucauldian ideas such as governmentality. I utilise my ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens in Chapters Four to Seven to analyse how YouTube and Facebook are constructed as heterogeneous, contingent and precarious ‘actor-networks’ and I map in detail the complex power effects generated from specific local connections. I argue five key points. Firstly, I suggest that complex, multiple, and contingent power effects are generated when key social, legal, and technological actants are locally, contingently, and precariously ‘fitted together’ in YouTube and Facebook when copyright and personal data are protected and/or violated. Secondly, I argue that ‘materialities’ play key roles in maintaining the power effects generated by specific local connections. Thirdly, I argue that there are close links between power and ‘spatialities’ through my analysis of the Privacy Settings and Tagging in Facebook. Fourthly, I argue that my relational understandings of YouTube and Facebook generate a more comprehensive view of the power effects of specific legal elements such as how specific territorial laws in YouTube gain their authority by virtue of their durable and heterogeneous connections. Finally, I argue that we can extrapolate from my empirical findings to build a small-scale theory about the power effects generated in OSNS when legal values are protected and/or violated. Here I also consider the contributions made by my research to three distinct fields, namely, internet regulation, socio-legal studies, and actor-network theory.

Hiatus in blogging + a fancy new title (of sorts!) = doctoral thesis?

My apologies for the very long hiatus in blogging!! What can I say?! The submission of the doctoral thesis was a very laborious, painful, and slow process which required all my attention!! Hence, I had to give blogging a rest as blogging on any day was far more appealing than re-editing the pesky doctoral thesis chapters yet again!!

Anyway! As you can guess from my fancy new title (of sorts!): thesis has been submitted and have been successfully vivaed! Huzzay!I have walked through the fields of barley as the west wind moved for so many years. I have stayed even when promises were broken! Surely, I have now reached the fields of gold?! It does not seem quite so... Fear not, just like La Fontaine`s prudent ant, I shall slog on till I have reached the ever so elusive fields of gold. It is not time yet to say 'adieu veau, vache, cochon, couvee' (La Fontaine).

Irish Data Protection Commissioner`s audit of Facebook

Dear All

Apologies for the long hiatus in blogging!! Unfortunately, the doctorate and my part-time job are keeping me pretty busy and away from blogging!!

Normal duties will definitely resume once I submit the doctoral thesis later this year!!

For those of you who fervently keep abreast of the privacy issues related to Facebook, my upcoming talk at the Kent Critical Law Society Conference 2013 may be of interest. I will present a paper entitled 'The Irish Facebook Audit: On Power and Relations' this Saturday.

This paper will highlight some of the key findings of my doctoral research related to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner`s audit of Facebook. In particular, I will explore how the audit process is constructed as a 'socio-legal-technological' process, what rationalities and practices render the audit process 'reasonable', 'routinised' and 'rational.' I will also suggest possible reasons for the rise of an 'audit' culture in Facebook.

Changes in LinkedIn privacy settings relating to social advertising

I found out today that LinkedIn has changed its privacy settings relating to social advertising without notice. Basically, the default setting for social advertising allows LinkedIn to use the name and picture of LinkedIn users in adverts and promotions. 

You can opt out of this by applying the following steps:

1. In the right corner, select 'Settings' under your name
2. Go to 'Account' and select 'Manage Social Advertising'
3. Disable the box which states 'LinkedIn may use my name & photo in social advertising'

It never ceases to surprise me how sneakily social media platforms such as Facebook change their privacy settings without notifying their users whose data becomes visible to all and sundry until they become aware of this!! Opting out of any changes to the privacy settings of social media platforms should be the default position rather than the converse!

Beyond RIPA, privacy and hacking: the ramifications of the hacking enquiry by the UK Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee

Yesterday was the day eagerly awaited by all of us following the News Inc phone hacking scandal.
The UK Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee ('the Select Committee') had the difficult task of conducting an inquiry in a case that is still under police investigation. This can, of course, close certain avenues for questioning but could still have been an important forum to ask the key figures caught into the recent phone hacking scandal the key questions. Disappointingly apart from the very good lines of questioning by Tom Watson and Louise Mensch, the rest of the Select Committee failed to pin down the evasive, long-winded answers and the non-answers. But this was perhaps to be expected in many ways. The forthcoming judge-led inquiry and current police investigation will shed more light on the ins and outs of the scandal and whether the current state of affairs is merely the tip of the iceberg or as bad as it will get.


As a lawyer, I am, of course very interested to find out the legal ramifications of any breaches of RIPA 2000 and privacy which will be uncovered in the coming months.  Incidentally, the Guardian provides a quick guide to the RIPA regulatory framework on hacking. Additionally, the evidence given by the Murdochs reveals a wider issue of corporate governance at News International as many crucial actions (e.g. payments of large sums of money, payment of the legal fees of Mulcaire, alleged hacking) fell under the radar of those who are at the very top of the company. To what extent can such vague answers such as 'payments were not within my remit' (a la Rebekah Brooks) or 'I was not aware of this' (in Murdoch senior`s softer tone) or 'this is an interesting question but...' (a la James Murdoch) show that the senior executives at News International exercised the proper level of care required? As much as this scandal has revealed the inextricable links between the various institutions invovled, it has also highlighted that the phone hacking scandal goes much further than RIPA, privacy and Jude Law.

The right to oblivion in a Facebook world!

I attended the very instructive seminar organised by the Westminster Media Forum today on privacy, social media platforms and the right to be forgotten. The idea of the 'right to be forgotten' has been promoted by Viviene Reding (VP of the EU Commission) recently and has attracted a number of strong and diversion reactions (e.g. Tessa Mayes` recent article on the subject in the Guardian).

There were a number of key actors from different provenance in the hot seat today at the WMF to discuss this very issue such as the Information Commissioner (Christopher Graham), privacy experts such as Caspar Bowden (Microsoft) and Georgina Nelson (Which?), academics such as Dr Chris Pounder, and interested parties such as Jim Killock (ORG) and Tessa Mayes. The full list of speakers can be found here.

Three crucial points emerged from the discussion in my view. Firstly,  privacy (or rather the expectation of privacy) is very much contingent of the specific setting (i.e. the specific SNS) and its technological capabilities (e.g. is the privacy expectation in Twitter the same as the privacy expectation in Facebook?). A second important point emerging from the seminar is the commodification of data and the impact of data monetisation on privacy expectations (i.e. users are foregoing their data for the benefit of enjoying free access to all the services offered by SNS). Finally, the old issue of education surfaced and many speakers argued that a key component of the solution to the privacy issues raised by SNS rested on educating users about privacy issues in SNS (i.e. what should their expectation be? how can they protect their privacy efficiently etc).

CyberPanda thinks that there is a lot of merit in the idea of a right to be forgotten. On a theoretical level, it puts the 'power' (term used loosely here) back in the hands of the users who have more than a mere right to object to data processing and places more evidential burdens on data controllers. However on a practical level, this raises many issues including the old issue of how to enforce EU laws against a US-based company, and also whether the right to be forgotten is enough to deal comprehensively with the whole array of issues raised by SNS (e.g. what is the expectation of privacy for data which the data controller can prove that it needs?).

16.10.10 Weekly Cyber-Law News Round-Up

Another exciting week in the world of cyber-law with BT & Talk Talk being granted judicial review in relation to the Digital Economy Act, many proposals for legal measures from the Commission/Parliament relating to data protection and privacy, and the Parliament`s objection to the use of trademarks as Adwords. CyberPanda wonders what the impact of this opposition will mean in practice when it comes to the laws relating to keywords. Here is my personal pick of the week:

Copyright

·         Larry Lessig Calls For #WIPO To Lead Overhaul Of #Copyright System | IP Watch http://bit.ly/9qAHtp

·         Court Recognizes That DMCA Process Goes Against Basic Copyright Concepts” http://bit.ly/dos8eu

Digital Economy Act

·         Court grants fourth ground for Digital Economy review http://is.gd/h9rzM

·         Future of Digital Economy Act 'in limbo' until next year, say lawyers http://ow.ly/38j13

·         BT & TalkTalk granted judicial review of Digital Economy Act- what does it mean for file sharers? http://bit.ly/92lvxf

Data Protection & Privacy

·         Call to enforce EC strategy for data protection http://ow.ly/3a3IS #dataprotection #in

·         Summary of Draft Department of Commerce Privacy Green Paper http://ow.ly/3a2RK

·         Facebook, Background Checks and Job Applications http://bit.ly/9yyhN5 #privacy

·         Police recruits screened for digital dirt on Facebook, etc. http://usat.ly/avu0uQ #privacy

·         Swedes' emails to be stored for six months http://ht.ly/38lH2

·         Comparative Chart: Divergencies between Data Protection Laws in the EU. http://bit.ly/c0jbCp

·         Dangers of the Commission`s proposal to include the right to be forgotten in data protection laws http://ow.ly/38J6r

·         European Parliament proposes tough behavioural ad rules http://ow.ly/38j4c

·         Information Commissioner says new laws that impact on privacy should undergo post-legislative scrutiny http://bit.ly/cR1Jdj

·         ECJ holds unqualified legal requirement to disclose personal data on website violates right to privacy and data... http://j.mp/9nXWAC

Censorship

·         Palestinian blogger arrested for criticism of Islam on Facebook - Global Voices Advocacy - http://goo.gl/qUao6 #censorship

Unfair Competition

·         European Parliament joins French traders in opposing use of rival brands as keywords http://ow.ly/39QkR