2009-2010

News Release

REF NO.: 195

SUBJECT: Memorial looking forward to future of privacy protection

DATE: May 12, 2010

Memorial’s Information Access and Privacy Protection Office is co-sponsoring the fourth annual provincial conference on information access and privacy protection.
The Looking Forward: Newfoundland and Labrador Access and Privacy Workshop will take place May 17-18 in St. John’s at the Holiday Inn Government Centre.
The two-day conference will include a half-day of workshops and will cover a wide range of topics and feature several keynote speakers, including John Hinds, president and CEO of the Canadian Newspaper Association, and Suzanne Legault, Canada’s Information Commissioner.
Rosemary Smith, information access and privacy protection co-ordinator at Memorial, said the event will be of great interest to people working in the greater public sector across the province, as well as lawyers, private sector employees and health sector employees tasked with privacy and security obligations.
“Delegates will hear unique perspectives on the importance of freedom of information laws to openness, accountability and democracy and also leading-edge privacy concerns,” said Ms. Smith.
Ed Ring, commissioner, Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador, will open the conference. Representatives from the media, health agencies, corporations, universities and many other organizations will present on topics ranging from cyberliability to breaches in health information to privacy enhancing technologies.
Ms. Smith will present on the topic of ATIPPA: How’s that working for you? She said it is a topic that will discuss public bodies’ experiences in administering the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPPA) which came into force in 2005 and some of the challenges associated with it.
“The ATIPPA is undergoing statutory review now and a session to explore people’s experiences with it is timely. Hopefully, we will also see participation by both access and privacy professionals and users -- journalists for example – and we’ll have a full, well-rounded discussion.”
With more than 20 interactive sessions prepared by industry veterans along with real-life case studies, conference participants will be able to take away practical knowledge and real inspiration to give life to managing information access and privacy protection in their own organizations.
For more information, please visit www.verney.ca/nlapw2010.

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