The Annual Data Protection Conference, organised by ADPO, is just around the corner, taking place on 9 May in Dublin, chaired by ADPO’s Maeve Dunne. As data privacy professionals, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to delve into the latest trends, challenges, and solutions in the ever-evolving landscape of data protection. 

Let’s take a sneak peek at some of the exciting sessions on the agenda:

Regulating Data Protection 

As the GDPR enters its second half-decade, we’ve brought together expert speakers to look at what the next 5 years of data protection regulation could look like. 

One of our flagship sessions will be an update from the Data Protection Commission, delivered by Cian O’Brien, Deputy Data Protection Commissioner. Cian will give an overview of the Commission’s work, priorities, and areas of concern. 

Ashley Winton, from Mishcon de Reya, will discuss the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which proposes to remove the GDPR from UK law and will remove the requirement to appoint data protection officers, reduce the powers of the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), as well remove the obligation to conduct data protection impact assessments. He will also discuss how such a change of law might negatively affect the UK’s current adequacy decision. 

Also from the UK, Emma Martins, currently the Chief Commissioner of the UK Data and Marketing Commission, will tell the story of what it was like for her to build a busy data protection authority from the ground up on the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. In her role as Commissioner, she worked with a team responsible for implementation, oversight, and adequacy assessment for the new GDPR-standard legal framework for the islands. 

Bridging national regulation, international regulation, and technology, Florence Gaullier from CEDPO (Confederation of European Data Protection Organisations) and Vercken Gaullier, will provide a status update on the EU’s proposed ePrivacy Regulation, including covering the key differences between the ePrivacy Regulation and ePrivacy Directive, and zooming in with insights on tracking pixels in emails, and more generally on the recent guidelines on Article 5.3 of the ePrivacy Directive. 

Bringing together this theme of regulation, our panel session, ‘The Art of the Regulator: balancing technology and regulation’, will see Emma Martins, Cian O’Brien, and LinkedIn’s Will Burke, discussing challenges in achieving balanced, effective, and timely regulation in a world where technology is racing ahead and setting the agenda before the law has even caught up. Is regulation doomed to fail, always playing catch up with ever-evolving technologies? Are there risks that authorities and laws might over-regulate and stifle genuine innovation? And if regulation can get it exactly right, what would ‘just right’ look like? 

Artificial Intelligence 

We have three sessions devoted to AI, a topic that, beyond the hype, poses some important questions for data protection and privacy. 

In a session titled, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Data: what to DPOs need to know?’, Barry Scannell from William Fry will explore the emerging risks and challenges posed by AI, covering topics including: risks from automated decision making, bias and discrimination, and the lawfulness of using training data for large language models. 

Meta’s Gonzalo Caro will also deliver a session on ‘DPOs in the GenAI Matrix’, where he will draw from his experience at Meta to discuss the role of DPOs in managing privacy risks and opportunities in the context of generative AI. 

There will also be an opportunity to hear a range of views on generative AI during our panel session, ‘A Day in the Life of Generative AI: what should be keeping DPOs awake at night?’. ADPO’s Jared Browne will moderate a panel including Barry Scannell, Linda NiChualladh from Citi, and Kieran McCorry from Microsoft. Discussion points will include data protection issues arising from generative AI, how to handle hallucinations, inaccurate data processing and personal data leakage, and ensuring lawfulness and fairness in machine learning. 

Don’t miss out! Register now for the Annual Data Protection Conference and stay ahead in safeguarding data privacy and security.