Digital Privacy

Nov 28 2018

WPF comments to NTIA re: privacy governance frameworks

In response to the NTIA’s request for information regarding its proposed privacy framework, the World Privacy Forum submitted detailed comments to the agency regarding modern privacy governance. At the core of WPF’s comments is the belief that privacy is in a critical moment of transition. The comments state there needs to be a “broadened approach to privacy and data that is collaborative, fair, and acknowledges the challenges of highly complex data environments.”

Nov 01 2018

Dixon to address the United Nations on women and privacy

WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon will address the United Nations on the issue of women and privacy, with a particular focus on how digital privacy issues impact women across the world. Dixon will be addressing delegates at the UN Headquarters in Vienna, Austria and will participate in a UN Women’s workshop where the theme of

Jul 16 2018

WPF Summer & Fall 2018 Privacy Events

WPF will be speaking and/or participating in the following events this summer and fall. Please join us, or let us know if you will be attending. Global Forum on Artificial Intelligence, Swiss Re Center for Global Dialogue, 9-10 July 2018. Zurich, Switzerland. Pam Dixon, WPF Executive Director, delegate. Europlace International Financial Forum, 11-12 July 2018.

Mar 13 2018

World Privacy Forum in the news: spring update

Here is a spring 2018 update on a selection of privacy stories WPF has been quoted in over the past few months, many of them quoting our work on privacy. For more articles, see our full World Privacy Forum in the News page. In you missed our recent posts on data ethics and our test of

Feb 12 2018

Testing out PriBot, the new AI privacy policy analysis chat bot

Today we took the new PriBot privacy policy analyzer and chat bot tool out for a test run. The PriBot chat bot uses AI to analyze privacy policies — many of which are verbally and legally complex — and returns bite-size nuggets of information to those interested. The overall impact of using the chat tool

National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.
COVID-19 and HIPAA: HHS’s Troubled Approach to Waiving Privacy and Security Rules for the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic strained the U.S. health ecosystem in numerous ways, including putting pressure on the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The Department of Health and Human Services adjusted the privacy and security rules for the pandemic through the use of statutory and administrative HIPAA waivers. While some of the adjustments are appropriate for the emergency circumstances, there are also some meaningful and potentially unwelcome privacy and security consequences. At an appropriate time, the use of HIPAA waivers as a response to health care emergencies needs a thorough review. This report sets out the facts, identifies the issues, and proposes a roadmap for change.