*42° Mercoledì di Nexa* Data Protection Today: Challenges and Perspectives http://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi-42* * *Mercoledì 9 maggio 2012 ore 18 - 20* (2° mercoledì del mese) Via Boggio 65/a, Torino (primo piano) Twitter: http://twitter.com/nexacenter Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nexa.center Live Streaming: http://nexa.polito.it/upcoming-events On the occasion of the 42nd Nexa Wednesday, *Eleonora Bassi*, fellow at the Nexa Center for Internet & Society, and *Maria Bottis*, assistant professor at Ionian University (Information Law), will discuss the key current issue of data protection. In January 2012, the European Commission has proposed a comprehensive reform of the EU's 1995 data protection rules <http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/document/review2012/com_2012_11_...> *to strengthen online privacy rights and boost Europe's digital economy*. It consists in a Regulation setting out a general EU framework for data protection and a Directive on protecting personal data processed for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences and related judicial activities. New rules focus on: enhancing a single market for personal data, on the one hand removing unnecessary administrative requirements for companies and on the other hand increasing responsibility and accountability for personal data processing (introducing Data breach notifications, Data Protection Officers, Binding corporate rules, Data Protection Impact Assessment...), strengthening National Supervisor Authorities' powers and cooperation, reinforcing individuals' rights giving people more control over their personal data and make it easier to access it (with new rules on consent, on data portability and on the right to information). They also include the right to be forgotten, that has generated great debate. It has been created especially for the online environment: the online users' right to have their data deleted if they withdraw their consent and if there are no other legitimate grounds for retaining the data. *The meeting will be held in English and Italian (no translation provided)*. A list of previous "Mercoledì di Nexa" meetings is available here <http://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi>. *Biographies: * *Eleonora Bassi*, fellow at the Nexa Center for Internet & Society. She holds a Degree in Law (cum laude) and a PhD in Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory (University of Turin, 2007). Her main research fields are legal theory, privacy and data protection law, fundamental rights. In collaboration with the Nexa Center she has been involved in the EVPSI research project <http://www.evpsi.org/>, in the LAPSI Thematic Network <http://lapsi-project.eu/> and in the OPEN-DAI project <http://www.open-dai.eu/> studying privacy issues related to open data policies. *Maria Bottis*, assistant professor, Information law, Ionian University (Corfu, Greece). She holds a law Degree (with honors) from Athens Law School, a LLM degree (Cambridge Law School, UK, 1991), a LLM degree (Yale Law School, 1992) and a PhD on medical information law (University of Athens). She was appointed a Faculty Fellow at Harvard University, Center for Ethics and the Professions <http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/> (2000-2001). She is an elected member of the board of the International Society for Ethics and Technology <http://inseit.net/> and author of many books and international publications on data protection, digital divide, library ethics, privacy medical/health law and intellectual property. * **Recommended readings and links*: - The proposal of the European Commission <http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/document/review2012/com_2012_11_...> to reform of the EU's 1995 data protection rules - EU Data Protection Reform <http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/edps/site/mySite/Reform_package> - Article 29 Data Protection Working Party <http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/article-29/documentation/opinion...> *Ufficio Stampa Centro NEXA su Internet & Società:* Giuseppe Futia NEXA Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica Tel. +39 011 090 7219