Each session starts with provocateurs- key thought leaders in the field of privacy- presenting powerful ideas, relevant research and challenges to assumptions. The intimate scale and relaxed setting lends itself to lively discussion which will engage all and allow participants to truly become part of the process. Each THINK pod will be one hour in length and will be followed by small group DISCUSS break-outs and a full group DECIDE pod led by the curators.
Key Themes for Navigate

Theme 1: The Changing Definition of Personal Data
Provocateurs:
Hal Abelson, Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, MIT, Author, Blown to Bits
Ian Kerr, Professor of Law, University of Ottawa

Around the world, regulators and legislators are revising the definitions of personal data and, as a result, the scope of data protection law. Opinions have been put forward that suggest IP addresses, or any identifier that offers the possibility of making an individual identifiable, should be considered personal data. Such changes in privacy law are daunting in scope. This is particularly the case as ubiquitous technologies- all with identifiers of some sort- emerge.


Theme 2: Data Protection as a Regulatory Export
Provocateur:  
Mark Schapiro, Editorial Director, Center for Investigative Reporting, Author, Exposed

The rise of privacy laws around the world has coincided with various attempts to "export" data protection standards extraterritorially. The EU concept of adequacy is an obvious example, but many others have emerged. Questions have been raised as to the viability of a global policy structure in which each jurisdiction has an incentive to set the highest standard possible, lest it be left behind as an insufficient yard-stick in the globalized information economy. But how do we change this dynamic and move towards a more harmonized system? How do we provide incentives for countries to balance the value of global data flows against their national interests?


Theme 3: Privacy and Governmental Access to Data
Provocateurs:  
Fred Cate, Distinguished Professor, Indiana University School of Law
Robert O'Harrow Jr., Journalist, The Washington Post, Author, No Place to Hide

Governmental access to citizens' data has, in part, been restricted within the various parameters of the fourth amendment in the U.S., and similar standards in other jurisdictions.  But what happens when the government becomes just another customer of data in the private marketplace? Or when the government requests data from private corporations via mechanisms that may not be impeded by fourth amendment restrictions? And how can such concerns be managed with the concurrent growth of data mining and data storage technologies?