Data Privacy Day

Data Privacy Day
Date	January 28

Data Privacy Day is an international holiday that occurs every January 28.^[1] The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness and promote privacy education. It is currently celebrated in the United States, Canada, and 27 European countries. On January 26, 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed House Resolution HR 31 by a vote of 402-0, declaring January 28 National Data Privacy Day.^[2] On January 28, 2009, the Senate passed Senate Resolution 25 also recognizing January 28, 2009 as National Data Privacy Day. The United States Senate also recognized Data Privacy Day in 2010 and in 2011.

Data Privacy Day's educational initiative originally focused on raising awareness among teens and young adults about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking. The educational focus has expanded over the past three years to include parents & kids, consumers and businesses. In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy. The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, nonprofits, privacy professionals and educators.

Data Privacy Day 2011 occurred on January 28, 2011. The celebration within the United States and Canada is being coordinated and promoted by Data Privacy Day^[3] a division of The Privacy Projects. The Privacy Projects is a nonprofit think tank and research organization dedicated to facilitating the place privacy plays in regulatory controls, technological innovation and consumer protection with key stakeholders; to the development and promotion of privacy standards; and to the promotion of collaboration, cooperation and shared responsibility in the areas of individual data protection and commercial management of personal information. The Privacy Projects encourages broad involvement in the Data Privacy Day celebration. More extensive information about the history of Data Privacy Day events in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and information about becoming involved in Data Privacy Day are available at www.dataprivacyday.org.

28th January is the date on which the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data had been opened for signature by the Council of Europe in 1981. This convention is currently in the process of being up-dated in order to reflect new legal challenges caused by technological development. The Convention on Cybercrime is also protecting the integrity of data systems and thus of privacy in cyber space. Privacy including data protection is also protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Participating Organizations

A few of the participating organizations for the January 28th, 2011 Data Privacy day include; Carnegie Mellon University, Carolina Privacy Officials Network, Centre for Information Policy Leadership, Cisco, Harsco Corporation, Hogan Lovells, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Ohio State University, Oracle EMEA, The Privacy Professor Rebecca Herold, Procter & Gamble, Visa Inc., West Virginia State Privacy Office, West Virginia Health Care Authority, and Western Union.^[4]

References

1. ^ Peter Fleischer, Jane Horvath, Shuman Ghosemajumder (2008). "Celebrating data privacy". Google Blog. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/celebrating-data-privacy.html. Retrieved 12 August 2011. 
2. ^ H.Res.31 Expressing support for the designation of January 28, 2009 as "National Data Privacy Day"
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ Data Privacy Day 2011 website

5. Hogan Lovells http://www.hoganlovells.com/newsmedia/newspubs/detail.aspx?news=1802

External links

• DATA PRIVACY DAY and THE INTERNET PANOPTICON - Studies Says Webcam Users Under Serious Threat
• Data Privacy Day is January 28, 2010! from The Privacy Projects
• Data Privacy Day 2009 from Intel Corporation
• Convention 108 of data protection