Privacy Camp: Big data and ever increasing state surveillance

As every year, EDRi is co-organising a privacy camp for civil society as a warm-up event for the CPDP conference. The event will discuss big data and every increasing state surveillance and the sessions will focus on privacy and data protection challenges and possibilities in Europe.

It will take place on Tuesday, 20 January 2015 in Brussels. Please check the event page for the agenda and further details on Privacy Camp Brussels.

The event will bring together digital rights advocates, members of NGOs and civil rights groups from all around Europe and beyond to discuss the problems currently facing human rights online and develop strategies to address the key challenges.

This year’s program will kick off with a roundtable discussion on demystifying big data. Big data has become the biggest buzzword of 2014. Researchers in a variety of fields have started analysing ever larger data sets. While this “big data” can be used for the social good, that it can help find cure for diseases and to protect our environment, there are also major concerns that such analysis could usher in a new wave of medical and social inequality and discrimination. What are the challenges for society with regard to surveillance and fundamental rights? What is Europe’s role in all this and how can civil society address these challenges?

The opening session will be followed by debates and strategy workshops on data retention, flight passenger data retention (EU PNR) and on the EU-US trade agreement (TTIP) negotiations in the wider context of transatlantic data flows. The event will end with a meeting between privacy advocates and surveillance studies scholars.

Please R.S.V.P by no later than 17 January to imge.ozcan(at)vub.ac.be and note that non-NGO participation is by invitation only – participation is free of charge. The event is co-organised by EDRi, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Université Saint Louis, IRISS, LSTS and CPDP.