Description of Session
In recent years, the widespread digitisation of ID has been accompanied by large-scale breaches of privacy (in the Philippines, Nigeria, India, and more). Europe’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), the EU’s (in)famous answer to protecting the personal data of its citizens, has been both lauded and criticised. Specifically within international development, GDPR proves difficult to implement operationally. Technology will always penetrate a market before regulations catch up, and in a sector where the celebrated Silicon Valley motto of “move fast and break things” puts lives at risk, GDPR can become a powerful tool in improving the quality of programmes, while preserving the privacy of beneficiaries. Against the backdrop of recent privacy breaches, this session will argue that our entire sector should voluntarily strive to adopt key GDPR principles to raise the bar on issues such as minimising the collection of sensitive data, informed consent, privacy by design, and respecting privacy rights. In addition, we will describe the benefits of using cloud technology to achieve the above aims.
