As part of our wider tasks aimed at technology monitoring, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) regularly publishes his TechDispatch reports with a view to explaining emerging developments in technology.
To our great delight, the EDPS TechDispatch initiative has received the Global Privacy and Data Protection 2021 Award in the category of “Education and Public Awareness”, on the occasion of the 43rd Global Privacy Assembly 2021, hosted by INAI (Mexico).
The Global Privacy Assembly is an international forum with more than 130 data protection and privacy authorities. The Global Privacy Assembly first met in 1979 under the name of International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC).
The GPA Global Privacy and Data Protection Awards celebrate the achievements of the GPA community, and rewards good practices adopted in the field of privacy and data protection. As such, the Supervisor and members of EDPS staff appreciate the recognition received for our commitment to explain the impact of new technologies to the wider public.
Launched in 2019, the aim of the TechDispatch is to inform and raise awareness of the potential data protection issues surrounding new technologies. New technologies are part of our day-to-day routines and can make our lives easier, but they often involve the processing of users’ personal data, sometimes on a massive scale.
The increasing speed of digital transformation makes it harder to keep up with new developments in information technology. One of the roles of the EDPS is to promote awareness and advise on the principles of data protection by design and data protection by default in particular.
The TechDispatch reports provide factual descriptions of a new technology, a preliminarily assessment of its possible impacts on privacy and the protection of personal data, and links to further recommended reading.
We invite you to keep an eye out for the next TechDispatch by visiting our web page on the EDPS website where you can also subscribe to the TechDispatch newsletter for free.
We also take the opportunity to point you towards our new initiative, TechSonar.
It is indeed true that the technological changes in this world come at a rapid pace. As part of our work, it is important to understand these changes by anticipating technology trends. Instead of reacting to new emerging technologies, we should be able to anticipate their development and impact.
TechSonar falls within the first pillar of our Strategy 2020-2024, Foresight. TechSonar reports allow the EDPS to continuously analyse technological developments and contribute to the wider debate on foresight within the European institutions.
While the TechSonar reports aim to anticipate emerging technology trends, our TechDispatch reports will continue to provide in-depth analysis on emerging technologies.
Watch video to find out more about the EDPS TechDispatch and to hear the EDPS’ acceptance speech.