Fighting for greater transparency and protecting privacy are two sides of the same coin - both principles seek to prevent corruption, promote freedom of expression, and construct solid democratic institutions that have the interests of their citizens at heart. However, often the various camps advocating for these fundamental rights use different approaches. Currently, data rights-based legal frameworks are contradictory in principle -- while many Rights to Information (RTI) laws are moving towards promoting open data and transparency by default, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union introduces specific privacy by default and by design obligation. This was an issue that emerged during a global revision of the Open Data Charter principles, aiming to maintain these norms as the cutting-edge and highest normative standard in the field.
The way governments and private companies are increasing the use of data-driven technology, and the extensive collection and use of personal data bring the discussion back to the forefront. Recent stories that uncovered how private data has been misused have further tipped the scale in favour of restricting access to information. To avoid back peddling on important strides in transparency reforms from rightfully concerned governments, the Open Data Charter and Open Knowledge International partnered to host this session seeking to build a shared framing that helps government officials navigate conflicting rights-based approaches to how data should be governed, clarifying what open by default means in practice.
Session notes:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RBUu5jyHEk9M_wknB4_tv29R-oJL9VGxzpwNp3LVDVI/edit
