Can legislation and technology offer the assurance that digital identities and personal data are safe on the internet?

As more and more of daily life goes online, individuals are becoming more concerned about protecting their digital privacy. They want assurances that their digital identities, the digital patterns that they build up, and the digital trails they leave behind will not be compromised or misused. Can legislation and technology offer this assurance? Do legislators and technologists even fully grasp the meaning and implications of online identity? Legislation can be a blunt instrument that leads to unintended consequences. Technology can be a tool for progress, but can also be distrusted, and can be used for harmful ends. Can technology by itself guarantee privacy? What steps need to be taken to help technological development bridge the trust gap?

The Porvoo Group is an international cooperative network of government representatives, the primary goal of which is to promote a transnational, interoperable electronic identity, based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI technology) and electronic ID cards, in order to help ensure secure public and private sector e-transactions in Europe. The Porvoo Group was established in the Finnish city of Porvoo in April 2002. For background information click here.

The 17th Porvoo Group meeting took place in Brussels on 10-11 May 2012. The meeting was co-organised by the Porvoo Group and e-Forum, with support from a number of sponsors. For a summary of the event, click here.

For the Porvoo 17 agenda, click here. If you need any further information, please use the Porvoo 17 contact form.