Data Protection Associations Introduce Survey and Representation Concepts
A new initiative intended to represent UK-based data protection officers (DPOs) has been launched to provide insight into the development of the privacy industry.
Managed by the DPO Center and the Data Protection World Forum, the index will aim to cover a range of topics including organizational strategy, resources, budgets, the response to current issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of data protection as a single theme.
Rob Masson, chief executive of the DPO Center, said the index is intended to help shape the future of the sector, provide clarity on the key issues and ultimately deliver tangible and ongoing benefit to the industry.
Speaking on a webinar to launch the index, Masson said the intention of the index is to take a “snapshot” of the sector to give a unique picture of how the profession is maturing. Masson called the data protection sector collaborative but admitted that sometimes it is hard to gauge industry-wide opinion, and the events around the invalidation decision of Privacy Shield “show how quickly things can change.”
He said: “The intention of the index is that it is there to serve the industry in being able to give results and very detailed information about what is going on within the sector and where the important issues are, and it is there to act as a consistent and accurate guide and a barometer of opinions that are being expressed across the sector and across industries and organizations.”
He also said there is an intention to understand the issues in a more granular way, and it is “our opportunity to give the industry some sort of definite response and definitive action and guidance to how the issues in the sector are relevant to us and how they are being reacted to.”
Masson also explained that the concept is to provide a wider voice outside of the sector, as the profession continues to grow. “The profession continues to grow and it is because of the requirements and the complexity and the significance of data protection and the role of the DPO that it becomes more and more important,” he said. “We’ve seen a massive change in the last three years and seen how it is absolutely necessary for the role of the DPO to evolve and deliver more and more.”
If you are a data protection officer and you would like to join the anonymous panel that regularly contributes to the UK Data Protection Index, register here.
This post Data Protection Associations Introduce Survey and Representation Concepts originally appeared on InfoSecurity Magazine.
