Sunday 23 December 2012

With seasonal greetings


This is my penultimate blog for this year. The final blog, to be published on New Year’s Eve, will review the most significant developments of 2012, and offer a few predictions about the challenges ahead.

For me, my perspective on data protection has changed considerably during the past 12 months. From being a full time employee of a major company, where the considerations naturally focussed on what was marginally more beneficial for the data controller, I’ve become an independent consultant, where a more evenly balanced view of the needs of the data controller and of the individual has to be taken into account.

While full time employment certainly has its advantages, in terms of a regular income, my new role has opened doors into new worlds that I might well not have stepped through. The communications world has been very familiar territory for well over a decade, but I’ve recently been able to renew my acquaintance with the financial services world, and I’m becoming increasingly familiar with the issues that face utility companies, the health sector and the media.

Other worlds that I do hope to explore in even more detail in future include the worlds of public policy and regulation. Decisions are made by those who turn up – and I do hope to be able to turn up and influence an increasing number of these decisions in 2013. Most of the people I have met in public life share a passion to make this world a better place. They may well have very different views about what a better place looks like, but I can’t, for the most part, fault them for their sincerity and commitment to do good deeds. The disputes will continue to focus on whether their vision is credible and realistic, and on who will provide the resources that will be necessary to build their better world.

There are exciting opportunities ahead. I sill wake up each day with a passion to do my best and to advocate practices that I believe to be fair and transparent. And while this passion remains, I also hope to continue to blog about things that matter to me.

So, many thanks to those who have written to me privately over the past year, commenting on this blog.  I’ll continue to respect your confidences. It is, though, reassuring to know that so many of my opinions are shared with other professionals in this field.

Wishing everyone a great Xmas break.

Happy holidays.


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