The second meeting of the e-Forum privacy working group (PWG) took place on 15 April 2010 at the Showroom Cinema and Workstation, Sheffield, UK. The meeting was part of an event hosted by the University of Sheffield and e-Forum, entitled ’Yorkshire and the eUnion: Responding to the Malmo Ministerial Declaration’. More details about this event can be found at http://www.yorkshire-eunion.com/.

The working group discussed further the seven objectives that it set itself during the first meeting, in Brussels in February:

- Define the personal sphere: what is an identity?
- Map privacy to different contexts;
- Define an holistic view on privacy: legal, technical and sociological;
- Make people aware of the value of and ability given by data ID;
- Prepare a (privacy) roadmap; understand what is on the horizon (including implications of the Stockholm Programme for privacy);
- Map (privacy) cultural differences across Europe;
- Consider what level of interoperability is needed, considering that more interoperability leads to less privacy.

Detailed discussions were held on issues arising from an examination of these goals. In particular, participants discussed enforcement of data protection/privacy legislation, which was felt in many cases to be inadequate; and the question of ’care versus control’: when does behavioural monitoring and profiling on the basis of providing services to vulnerable people become intrusive?

The minutes of the meeting can be accessed by clicking below. The date of the next meeting is not yet known, but is likely to take place in early June, in Brussels.

 Privacy working group second meeting minutes