Termin Di 5. Apr 00:00:00 CEST 2011

Berlin: Privacy and Accountability 2011

Beginn: Di 5. Apr 00:00:00 CEST 2011
Ende: Mi 6. Apr 23:59:59 CEST 2011
Ort: Umweltforum Berlin Auferstehungskirche GmbH, Pufendorfstr. 11, 10249 Berlin
Geodaten: (0),(0)
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Kontakt: http://conference.pats-project.eu/ocs/index.php/privacy/2011/index

Privacy and Accountability 2011

International Conference of the PATS Project

April 5-6, 2011
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2010

A universal feature of modern public life is the invasion of privacy that occurs every day and in a variety of forms. Invasive surveillance activities are carried out in the name of preventing terrorism and stopping fraud. Crime control has become synonymous with surveillance technologies, information technologies, and databases. The boundaries of public and private life have become blurred, and privacy has become compromised in the name of protecting the public.

At the same time, users of social networks and Web 2.0 services have begun to voluntarily give away their information – supposedly to other users, but eventually to companies and whoever is interested in the data freely available on the Web. Google’s and Facebook’s power are being discussed more and more in the media, opening up a discourse about companies’ and citizens’ handling of information. Accountability seems to be situated in ever more loci: states, cities, companies, citizens and users, and technology.

Despite numerous legislative frameworks designed to protect privacy, rapid advances in surveillance and security technologies have meant that the law often falls behind technological developments. Legislation is often designed as principles, rather than to fit specific technologies. Furthermore, the extent to which legislation is enforced or enforceable varies.

The idea of a right to privacy has been a long debated issue. For some, privacy protection can only occur through the development of transparent standards; for others privacy is an outdated concept. Attempts to ensure privacy protection have focused on 'data' and legal frameworks. More recently, Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) have become an important technological advance. However, it is widely acknowledged that existing legal frameworks fall short in terms of impacting on organizational practices. The question then arises: can privacy be protected by legal frameworks alone?

Beyond legal frameworks and technological regulation lies the market, the playing field for self-regulation. But does the market work for privacy and data protection? What are the incentives for more self-regulation? Who demands privacy, and who offers it and how? What levels of privacy awareness can be observed among producers, service providers, and the public? Research has shown that organizations do not perceive pressure towards more privacy protection, and that regulation fails in implementation. This perspective calls for a closer look at the actors and agents responsible: who, apart from the legally defined ‘data controllers’ needs to be attributed responsibility?

The Article 29 Working Party has called for the adoption of an “Accountability Principle” within Data Protection frameworks in its Opinion 3/2010. This mainly includes more concrete measures and mechanisms that can demonstrably be implemented and – again – enhance self-regulation. Similarly to other fields of compliance, a sort of self-regulation tool box is recommended consisting of internal procedures, supervision, management tools, trainings, the appointment of Data Protection Officers and so forth.

Key questions that arise from this potential adoption of an accountability principle include:

Is thinking about the concept of accountability a way of conceptualising privacy as more than simply about 'data'?

Is accountability responsibility to more than the law? Can thinking about accountability bring in concepts of voluntary, yet binding, codes of conduct?

Is accountability more than a principle? Do discussions about accountability bring in issues of 'the public'?

The international conference hosted by the PATS Project in Berlin provides a forum for the discussion of this new Accountability principle. It is perceived as a concept which needs to be both filled with more specifications and informed by current research about privacy, surveillance and data protection.

Papers will be accepted on the basis of a submitted abstract, which will be refereed. An abstract must be between 500 and 750 words in length (references excluded) and submitted online via the conference website starting from Oct 20, 2010. Deadline for submission is Dec 10, 2010. Authors will be informed of the decision of the referees by Jan 21, 2011. Authors are expected to submit papers until March 31.

Paper presentations will be 30 minutes, divided into 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.

Conference website: For more information on the conference, please check http://www.pats-project.eu for further updates and resources.

Conference email address: accountability@pats-project.eu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The conference is organized by Daniel Guagnin, Dr. Leon Hempel, Carla Ilten, Dr. Inga Kroener and assistants.

PATS Project Coordinator:

Dr. Leon Hempel

Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft
Technische Universität Berlin
Fasanenstr. 90

10623 Berlin

Submissions for this conference were closed on 2010-12-11.

Tue, 05.04.2010	Speaker	Title
08:45 - 9:00	Leon Hempel	Welcome
09:00 - 09:30	Keynote: Charles Raab	Opening keynote
09:30 - 10:10	Joseph Alhadeff, Brendan Van Alsenoy, Jos Dumortier	Deconstructing accountability: an investigation into the origin, development and possible future of the accountability principle
10:10 - 10:50	Raphaël Gellert, Serge Gutwirth	Beyond accountability, the return to privacy?
10:50 - 11:10	BREAK
11:10 - 11:50	Louise Horvath, Nicolas Bach	Accountability and Changes in the Perception of Privacy
11:50 - 12:30	Thomas Schwietring, Pascal Geißler	Privacy and freedom of information in data society
12:30 - 13:30	LUNCH
13:30 - 14:00	Keynote: Colin Bennett	The Accountability Approach: Is there anything new?
14:00 - 14:40	Daniel Neyland	The challenges of working out surveillance and accountability in theory and practice
14:40 - 15:20	Andreas Busch (t.b.c)	Privacy and the challenge of technological innovation: a comparative perspective
15:20 - 15:40	BREAK
15:40 - 16:20	Esma Aïmeur, Sébastian Gambs, Ai Thanh Ho	Maintaining Sovereignty on Personal data in Social Networking
16:20 - 17:00	Aneta Katarzyna Podsiala	Mobile marketer’s policy strategy for assuring compliance with privacy and data protection principles
17:00	DISCUSSION

Wed, 06.04.2010	Speaker	Title
09:00 - 09:30	Keynote: Priscilla Regan	Sociotechnical systems of accountability (title to be confirmed)
09:30 - 10:10	Jason Pridmore, Seda Gürses	Translating privacy into digital designs: technical accountability in everyday surveillance
10:10 - 10:50	Christian Breitenstrom	Accountability in Electronic Safes
10:50 - 11:10	BREAK
11:10 - 11:50	Matthias Pocs	Accountability by Design - Combining the data protection and privacy principles of accountability and privacy by design
11:50 - 12:30	Christopher Soghoian	The Need for Complete Surveillance Statistics
12:30 - 13:30	LUNCH
13:30 - 14:00	Keynote: Paul de Hert	Accountability – a human rights perspective
14:00 - 14:40	Mike Nellis,	The satellite tracking of offenders; the crime control implications of surrendering locational privacy
14:40 - 15:20	Philip Schütz, Michael Friedewald	Accountability of Data Protection Authorities
15:20 - 15:40	BREAK
15:40 - 16:20	Nils Leopold	The political perspective on elements of accountability in the ongoing legislative revision of directive 46/95 and the German federal data protection law.
16:20		DISCUSSION & Closing remarks