Digital privacy and Internet security to intersect at Digital Rights Europe
Digital Rights Ireland, Ireland’s leading digital rights advocacy group, has gathered an expert group of Irish and international speakers for the inaugural Digital Rights Europe conference this April 15th in Dublin.
With a focus on critical European-wide issues around digital privacy, digital security and data protection, infosec will be a running theme through all the conference tracks.
The one-day conference will begin with a series of plenary sessions including speaker Brian Honan, a Special Advisor on Internet Security to Europol’s Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Help Net Security columnist, who will focus on the online threats to people’s personal data. He’ll explain why criminals are eager to get their hands on that information and what organizations should do to better protect the personal data entrusted to them.
Other speakers include barrister Joseph Dalby and John Wright of Flightpath Consultants, who will present on drone capabilities and the questions of privacy, data protection, and ethical issues that arise with the growing popularity of drones.
According to Dalby, “These ‘eyes in the sky’ have the potential to give even the most casual snooper the ability to be far more discerning in his target, and far more revealing in his output, all broadcast online. Regular use by local authorities will soon follow, giving a cloak of legitimacy to the harvesting of information over a wide area.”
‘Policing in a Digital Age: Legality vs Legitimacy’, one of two afternoon tracks focuses on the intersection of policing with technologies including drones, bodycams, social media, mobile phone data and bystander video. Dr. Pete Fussey, a criminologist and professor at the University of Essex, will discuss the conflicted and fragmented use of surveillance and security practices brought to light by the Snowden revelations. He will be joined by speakers including Centre for Irish and European Security Director Sadhbh McCarthy, who will present on the bilateral complexity of social media as a tool for policing and the use of citizens as sensors, and the inherent perils and opportunities around strategy, data privacy and data mining this emerging practice.