News

Data protection on the agenda of the next G8 ?

14 February 2011

On 17 December 2010, the President of the French Republic announced its intention to gather together the main global Internet players alongside the G8 summit in Deauville, in May 2011. The inclusion in the agenda of the G8, which will be held under the French presidency, of the topic of privacy would mark a critical milestone in the protection of privacy against the development of digital technologies and would throw light on the decisive role France plays in that matter.

In October 2010, data protection and privacy authorities adopted, on CNIL’s initiative, a resolution that aims at convening an intergovernmental conference, at the latest in 2012. The objective is to adopt an international binding legal instrument harmonising the protection of privacy.

The boom of trade worldwide and the development of multinationals have led companies to exchange data relating to their employees, customers and suppliers. Many companies increasingly use the services of sub-contractors located in countries outside the European Union not providing adequate level of protection.

New technologies, such as biometrics, geolocation, video surveillance, are increasingly present in our everyday life. Furthermore, the move towards nanotechnologies is likely to significantly change the deal, since it clearly raises the issue of the invisibility of digital applications and thus, ultimately, of their irreversibility.

Faced with these challenges, there is no globalised legal answer and the levels of privacy protection are disparate. Thus, less than 60 countries around the world have set up a data protection authority. Serious differences remain between the American and European conceptions regarding applicable law. More than two-thirds of states do not currently have a legal framework on data protection and privacy.

To come, within a reasonable timeframe, to a legally binding instrument, CNIL has swiftly met with the parliamentary committees in charge of these subjects. Both the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives subsequently filed a motion for a resolution to provide their support to the development of an international convention on the protection of privacy.