IS THERE A SOLUTION ON THE HORIZON TO COMBAT THE THREAT TO OUR DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY?

13 May 2009: The threat to the protection and privacy of our data has been a challenge faced by citizens, regulators and organisations around the world for many years. The threat is growing at an alarming rate and will continue to do so unless some international solutions are found to combat this problem.

A significant step towards achieving an international solution took place today with a joint announcement by Marie Shroff, the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner and Walter Fumy, the Chairman of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27, the leading international standards committee on information security.

Commissioner Shroff announced that the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners had appointed Steven Johnston, Senior Security and Technology Advisor to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, as liaison officer SC 27's WG 5 on identity management and privacy technologies.

The New Zealand Commissioner chairs the International Conference's Steering Group on Representation before International Organisations, which was established at the 30th Conference in Strasbourg late last year.

Commissioner Shroff said:

'The establishment of the Steering Group was a major step forward for the Conference by creating a mechanism by which the collective privacy and data protection expertise of commissioners could be better linked into international policy formulation. This appointment is a practical manifestation of that initiative.

There are now many players in the international scene working to develop solutions to the privacy challenges facing the world. The Conference's initiative is one small step to link together some of the stakeholders to share knowledge and experience. Steven Johnston has a depth of experience in relation to security, technology and the standards process that will serve the Conference and WG 5 well.'

Dr Walter Fumy said:

'I warmly welcome this collaborative development with the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. It represents an important turning point in advancing data privacy and protecting personal information through the publication of international privacy standards in the area of technology in the near future.'

Professor Kai Rannenberg, Convener of WG 5, said:

'I am very pleased to see this liaison become a reality as it is important for SC 27 to bridge the gap between Privacy Requirements and Privacy Technology. The threat to privacy affects everybody whether in healthcare, mobile communications or social networks. The nomination of Steven Johnston nicely complements the earlier appointment of Stefan Weiss as Liaison Officer from WG 5 to the Conference'.

Edward Humphreys, Press Officer, SC 27
Blair Stewart, Assistant Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand

All enquiries about this press release may be directed to edwardj7@msn.com for ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 or to enquiries@privacy.org.nz.

For more details of this joint cooperation go to the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 web site. Also contained on this web site is a full list of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 projects.
For further information about the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, go to resolutions on global standards and appointing liaison officer or to this year's conference web site.