Victoria privacy conference highlights need to protect personal data

It’s been identified as one of the biggest issues facing the private and public sectors, and this week the ins and outs of privacy and data protection will be bandied about the halls of the Victoria Conference Centre by a veritable who’s who in the game.

More than 1,000 delegates and abut 100 international experts will descend on the conference centre for the 20th annual Privacy and Security Conference, which begins Wednesday.

“Data protection is the number one issue on corporate Canada’s mind,” said Greg Spievak, chief executive of Reboot Communications, which organizes the annual conference in partnership with the Ministry of Citizens’ Services

Spievak said the conference has become a key calendar entry for those who work in the field because its content stirs discussion, looks ahead and lures the leading experts from the corporate world and government.

“We don’t want companies coming here and just selling products. We want them to bring their best and brightest and have a policy debate about where we’re going,” he said, noting many of the sessions bring together private, public and academia sectors, which tends to spur lively discussion.

The delegate make-up tends to be 65 per cent government, as the public sector looks at the three-day conference as a training exercise to deal with a growing problem, with the balance made up of corporate representatives.

This year’s topics include the growth of artificial intelligence, ethics, blockchain and the future of data protection.

Data scientist Jeff Jonas will deliver the keynote Thursday on the ramifications of new data protection regulations.

That talk will be followed by a series of addresses including Dr. Ann Cavoukian, three-term information and privacy commissioner of Ontario, speaking on the need to embed privacy and security, and Sir Robert Wainwright, a senior partner with Deloitte’s cyber practice in Europe and former executive director of Europol, diving into the role data plays in helping police agencies to counter advanced criminal enterprises.

Futurist Nikolas Badminton will discuss a world where privacy and human rights are being undermined by big tech and bigger government, with Scott Jones, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.