Harnessing Data, Valuing Privacy

14 September 2023

Wedlake Bell, London

Overview

How to harness data in legally defensible and ethical ways, and value privacy

Date: Thursday 14 September 2023
Times: 09.30 to 15.30
Location: Wedlake Bell, London
Type: In-person only
CPE Credits: up to 4

There are apparent conflicts between privacy values and the recent push for innovation under the UK’s National Data Strategy. Some organisations use personal data to pursue targets in the public interest, while others use it to pursue profits. How do privacy rights of individuals fit into this scenario?

Companies maximise their financial return from data if individuals sign up to smart devices, mobile apps or smart meters. However, few users realise the extent to which their usage is monitored, analysed and shared with other parties for analytics, product development (including the training of AI algorithms) or even targeted marketing.

The aim of this workshop is to reconcile the important objectives of innovation and privacy. We will look at examples from the utility and advertising sectors and consider these issues from commercial, regulatory and data protection law perspectives to help companies find an optimum path.

  • How should companies take into account the economic value of data?
  • How is the ICO carrying out its new role to encourage innovation?
  • How should companies assess the opportunities presented by the Data Protection and Digital Information No. 2 Bill?

Speakers

  • Tom Reynolds, Chief Economist, ICO
  • Bethan Watts, Director of Projects, Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF)
    • The DRCF is the organisation which brings together the Competition and Markets Authority, Ofcom, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Financial Conduct Authority providing greater regulatory coherence and clarity for consumers and industry
  • Calum Conejo-WattHead of Data Governance & Quality, ADSS
  • David Jevons, Partner, Oxera
  • Alexander Dittel, Partner, Wedlake Bell
  • Stewart Dresner, Founder and Chief Executive, Privacy Laws & Business

 

Programme

Time Session
09.30 Registration
09.50

Introduction - The balance between data protection principles and innovation
Stewart Dresner, Founder and Chief Executive, Privacy Laws & Business

10.00

Harnessing Data, Valuing Privacy
Alexander Dittel, Partner, Wedlake Bell, London

  • Examples of how data is used in a way that surprises consumers (advertising, Real Time Bidding, utility, telecoms, AI but the commercial or wider public benefit of such data use.
  • The value of data is on the rise but what is the current position on exploiting data and regulatory risk in the UK and EU?
  • The US / EU influences and tensions
  • Do data rights offer consumers protection in practice?
  • What is the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill proposing to do regarding the value of personal data, and how does that compare with the EU's legislative trajectory?
  • What is the meaning of data ethics in practice?
  • Why do organisations find it hard to comply?
10.30

The increasing economic value of data versus privacy
David Jevons, Partner, Oxera, Oxford

  • Perspectives on the value of data in different applications: commercial value versus privacy; private impact versus social impact
  • The economic toolkit for valuing data
  • What are the problems with data markets? What are the likely market failures?
  • Real world examples of data valuation
  • Are there any recognised standards? Are they changing? What does it depend on?
11.00

The role of governance in unlocking the value of data
Calum Conejo-Watt, Head of Data Governance & Quality, ADSS

  • Data management to help unlock the true value of data in an organisation by turning raw data into actionable insights with examples.
  • Examples of valuable insights derived from personal data in a privacy protective way
  • Examples of how data governance and data management work in practice
  • Influence of new technologies like AI and blockchain, and future trends in data management
11.30 Coffee Break
11.45

The regulators’ views on balancing competing interests
Tom Reynolds, Chief Economist, ICO

  • The balance of interests that exists in GDPR
  • What the new duties for the ICO in the DPDI Bill entail
  • Evidence on the value of data
  • What this means in practice:
    • For regulatory activity
    • For regulatory cooperation
12.15

The role of the DRCF in regulating the harnessing of personal data for the fast growing data economy
Bethan Watts, Director of Projects, DRCF

  • Role of DRCF in promoting regulatory cohesion and certainty for business and innovators.
  • Digital regulation increasingly crossing policy boundaries – for example the interaction between data protection and competition; the data protection implications of the online safety regime in the UK.
  • The work of DRCF regulators in relation to generative AI
  • The use of data to train algorithmic systems and capability of regulators to audit them
12.45

Looking ahead
Panel with all the speakers

13.15 Lunch
14.00

Roundtable discussion without the regulators
How would the UK Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill make a difference if adopted into law? The significance of changes in the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill and how might organisations adapt to the new opportunities?

  1. Practical ways to use data on a large scale for analytics.
  2. How important is the new definition of personal data?
  3. Will the change of definition make use of data easier? Examples?
  4. Can we identify legal grey areas? If so, how are they likely to be used?
  5. Extent of “invisible” non-compliance ?
  6. Role of ethics in practice? (“Just because you can does not mean you should.”)
  7. New opportunities resulting from the Bill
  8. Is the Bill likely to encourage a shift of data processing to the UK?
  9. How far is too far in terms of diverging from the EU GDPR?
  10. Other?
15.30 Close

 

 Registration

 

Registration Fee

Single Person £100 + VAT per person
Small Group (2+ people) £75 + VAT per person

This event has SOLD OUT

 

Thanks to our host