Still not legally binding, but a step in the right direction.
Privacy experts from 50 countries have worked out a draft agreement on international standards for the protection of privacy and personal data.
The meeting was called the 31st International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy.
If the standard is adopted by governments then data may only be processed after obtaining the "free, unambiguous and informed consent" of the data subjects and it should be deleted when it is no longer necessary.
The standard requires that data collectors must identify themselves and state in clear language the purpose of the data processing and the recipients of the gathered data.
If an organisation wants to transfer private data offshore then it may only be sent to a country that "affords, as a minimum, the level of protection provided for in the document".
According to a statement, the participants hope the draft international standards will serve as the basis for a universal, binding legal instrument on data protection.
However getting countries to adopt the standard is a jolly long way off. Still, the draft standard has a bit of authority. More than 1,000 participants from around the world took part in the conference, which was backed by the US Homeland Security Secretary, Google and Facebook.
theinquirer.net (c) 2010 Incisive Media
Issue: 133 | February, 2012