Data Privacy Day 28 January - comments on the big issues
What are the big privacy and data issues facing the UK in 2022
1. The ongoing impact of COVID
Many people are still working from home which means data processing is occurring out of secure office environments, making it much harder to apply the appropriate “technical and organisational measures” that the law demands and to respond fully to individuals’ rights requests, such as DSARs.
The pandemic also created issues such as the UK government’s decision to develop their “Track and Trace” app using a centralised, rather than de-centralised, approach to data processing. This highlighted all manner of privacy-related issues in the mainstream news that significantly raised the profile and importance of data protection to the public and focused the attention of a great many more organisations that it would otherwise have passed by. The knock-on effects of the above will be felt throughout 2022.
2. The UK’s (DCMS) consultation on the UK’s data protection landscape in 2022
Whilst we are still waiting for the outcome of the consultation, it is safe to say that the proposals included within it show a clear intention to diverge away, quite significantly in certain areas, from the EU’s regime. The two areas in which this is most true are regarding international data transfers and accountability requirements.
In terms of data transfers, the UK government has made its intentions quite clear that it wants to significantly broaden the number of countries given adequacy, as well as the number of alternative transfer mechanisms available for businesses.
Overall, although nothing from the consultation is set in stone yet, it is clear that many of the proposals, if written into UK law, would detrimentally impact the chances of the UK retaining its adequate status from the EU in four years’ time.
3. AI and privacy issues in 2022
Although AI and machine learning has been around for some time now, its use has really taken off over recent years. More and more of our clients are now leveraging AI and as it becomes more prevalent, so do the data protection considerations involved. Furthermore, AI presents far more complex data protection issues due to the inherent lack of transparency of algorithms and the increase in automated decision making, so how these risks are managed will be interesting to see, particularly as the UK has now set itself the goal of becoming an “AI global superpower”. It remains to be seen how far individuals’ data protection rights will be compromised in the pursuit of this goal.
4. Responsible innovation is what companies need to consider
The public are aware of their rights more than ever before, and they are far less likely to tolerate the misuse of their personal data. Data subjects not only know more about their rights, but are also becoming more willing to enforce them against organisations, and this trend is only going to continue into 2022 and beyond.
Data protection law is there to ensure that innovation occurs responsibly and respectfully which is especially important with AI due to just how integrated it is going to become in our everyday life and the type of decisions about people that it is going to be involved in.
The key trend for 2022 is companies who implement responsible innovation which builds trust, loyalty and engagement between organisations and their customers.
Interviewee: Rob Masson, CEO, The DPO Centre Ltd and leading data privacy expert
Rob can discuss the big privacy and data issues facing the UK in 2022 ahead of Data Privacy Day on 28th January 2022