31.01.2020

Data protection, a highly topical subject

Security

On the European Data Protection Day, the Restena Foundation and the University of Luxembourg have raised awareness of confidentiality and data protection issues among interested Luxembourg professionals.

On Tuesday 28 January 2020 in Esch-Belval, Luxembourg, Data Privacy Day brought together nearly 180 people from all sectors - research, education, finance, legal, public administrations, etc. - to discuss data privacy and data protection issues. The result of a collaboration between the Restena Foundation and the University of Luxembourg, Data Privacy Day was organized on the European Data Protection Day, an initiative launched by the Council of Europe. 

A rising interest

For this third edition, the capacity has been enlarged to meet an ever-increasing demand from professionals. Five institutions - the European Commission, MGSI, the Association pour la Protection des Données à Luxembourg (APDL), the Luxembourg Institute of Health and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research - joined the National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD), BEE-SECURE and the University of Luxembourg among the list of speakers. Together, they shared various useful information on current trends, legal and practical aspects of data protection:

  • key challenges faced by the public research sector in Luxembourg in the context of the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including legal qualifications of partners of a research project, Data Protection Impact Assessment, transfer of personal data to third countries and reuse of data; 
  • onsite investigations and audits carried out by the CNPD, the protection authority responsible in particular for verifying the legality of the processing of personal data and ensures the respect of personal freedoms and fundamental rights with regard to data protection and privacy 
  • data protection by design and by default as well as data protection impact assessment;
  • practical tips on privacy issues related to cookies, private browsing, app permissions, Internet of things, phishing, password managers, two-factor-authentication 
  • motivation in crowdsourcing projects - involving the leveraging of public participation in projects and activities - in citizen science, specifically in relation to virtual reward systems and the impact of GDPR on this field of research. Possible approaches to project planning in order to incorporate GDPR requirements together with suggestions of useful sources of information and advice available to researchers based in Luxembourg were provided
  • a showcase of existing tools and technologies for the use of personal data in Europe.

2021 edition planned

A new edition of the Data Privacy Day is already planned for 2021, under the same conditions. The Restena Foundation and the University of Luxembourg are therefore inviting all interested parties to meet on 28 January 2021 on the Esch-Belval site. 

Relive the event by watching the Data Privacy Day live streaming video and the photo gallery or by accessing the presentations on the event website: dataprivacyday.lu.