ADC participates in the 43rd Global Privacy Assembly and discusses the digital divide
On October 18, the Association for Civil Rights (ADC) attended the 43rd Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), jointly organized with INAI Mexico. We were represented by our Executive Director, Valeria Milanés, who was part of the Inclusion Policies panel and spoke on the digital divide and the need to prioritize vulnerable groups whose rights are more likely to be infringed.
In her presentation, Milanés highlighted: «We cannot think of solving the enormous shortcomings in data protection at the local and regional levels, nor how to safeguard the personal information of people living in poverty and marginalization without first considering the issues of competition and monopoly, as well as the concentration of political and economic power. These are deeply rooted phenomena, which hinder the efforts to tackle inequality».
In this sense, our delegate pointed out that Latin America faces several challenges to the adoption of high standards of personal data protection and their enforcement: «Everything remains to be done in the information security of those living in poverty and marginalization, for whom there is no differentiated protection, as far as I know. However, those receiving assistance through temporary programs which mitigate but do not reduce poverty, are compelled to hand over all their data, including that which is sensitive, to the authorities».
On the other hand, Milanés recommended that for the design and implementation of inclusive public policies which can bridge the digital divide, the actors involved should engage in a cross-cutting approach where gender, sexual identity, and ethnicity, among others, are considered. «Any measures, either public or private, aimed at better protecting the personal data of people living in poverty and marginalization must take these particularities into account,» she said. ADC shared the panel with Gabriela Zanfir Fortuna, Vice President for Global Privacy at Future of Privacy Forum, Fredesvinda Montes, Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank, Malavika Raghavan, Senior Fellow for India at Future of Privacy Forum, and Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor of Law & Technology at the EDHEC Business School in Lille (France).
