Data protection professional certification in the age of big data

• Rita Di Antonio

At the end of December 2013, Dictionary. com announced that privacy was its word of the year, having trumped a shortlist of candidates that included, among others, the word “selfie”. The Snowden revelations and the much-debated launch of the Google Glass, explained Dictionary.com, are among the reasons behind the decision. The protection of privacy and personal data is of course a human right in the European Union, and is regulated as such by EU legislation, but 2013 was the year that brought it to the forefront of the media and social debate. The “Snowden summer”, the political hype around the reform of the EU data protection package and some major data breaches all contributed to moving data protection discussions out of the realm of lawyers and geeks and into everyday conversations, even around dinner tables. A quick glance at the IAPP’s Daily Dashboard or European Digest, the IAPP’s free daily and weekly newsletters that summarise top privacy news stories, will reveal no shortage of headlines.