Olivia runs workshop at PDP Conference 2024

What a fantastic PDP Conference 2024! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed attending PDP’s 23rd Annual Data Protection Compliance Conference, and presenting at one of their workshops on lawful basis for processing (with more to come from me this afternoon…).

On Day 1, a great range of hot topics were covered by brilliant speakers. Emily Keaney from the ICO gave us an update on the ICO’s activities, with a “how to, not don’t do” approach. Jenna Franklin took us through AI Governance, suggesting using the EU’s AI Act as good guidance for risk assessment. Later in the day, Tim Hickman took us through the territorial applicability of the EU AI Act, with the potential to reach deployments of AI around the world, due to some aggressive drafting on use of outputs in the EU!

With some amusing examples of where people go too far in restricting use and sharing of data, Eleonor Duhs took us through the human rights foundations of data protection law, and the importance of proportionality. She gave a taster of lawful bases and the term “necessary”, which I drilled into more on my Day 2 workshop. Glen Hymers from the UK Cabinet Office then joined Eleonor with a discussion on what policies and legislation we may see from the new UK Government on data protection, AI and cybersecurity.

James Brunger described the controls in place to protect child users of SnapChat, and their holistic and modular approach to risk assessment. Peter Given took us through the Meta saga for online behavioural advertising, and their difficulty in finding a lawful basis...being discussed more in my workshop too! Emily Keaney confirmed that detail of the ICO’s view on “consent or pay” models is expected later this year (following the ICO’s consultation earlier this year). Jade Kowalski gave an interesting insight on the fine line between marketing communications and regulatory communications (required by regulators).

The stalwart of PDP conferences, Eduardo Ustaran, talked about international data transfers in the context of UK and US elections. With all the uncertainty, he suggested we need to be pragmatic and accept a degree of risk tolerance.

Thank you to PDP and all the speakers, and to Bridget Treacy for her (as always) brilliant chairing and insights.

I am looking forward to seeing more delegates this afternoon for some fun discussion on lawful basis for processing!

*Update: Thank you to the delegates yesterday and today for your contributions and questions!

Olivia Whitcroft, principal of OBEP, 26 September 2024

This article provides general information on the subject matter and is not intended to be relied upon as legal advice. If you would like to discuss this topic, please contact Olivia Whitcroft using the contact details set out here: Contact Details