If I told you that you could secure attendance at two half-day online training sessions on data protection, with one of the UK’s leading experts and trainers, for the meagre sum of £130 and that payment bought you two years’ membership of NADPO, with all the other benefits that brings (regular webinars, a stellar annual conference, regular newsletters, discounts on training), you would snap it up, wouldn’t you?
Well, dear friends, that’s what we’re offering our members. On Wednesday 9 October and Wednesday 16 October the fantastic Tim Turner of 2040 Training will be delivering sessions exclusively for NADPO members. So, if you purchase a membership in the next few days you’ll be entitled to attend both sessions (plus get all those other benefits).
I can’t think how any rational person could turn such an offer down.
Prompted by a rather strange comment on LinkedIn, by someone who claimed they were the UK’s first DPO in 2007, and then claimed they meant “Data Privacy Officer” and not “Data Protection Officer” I thought I’d do some in-depth research into who might have been (you can thank Aaron Needham for setting the thought in my mind).
By, “in-depth” research, I mean half an hour or so on Google Books Advanced Search, so my findings are as authoritative as that would indicate. I would welcome others’ research.
As I mentioned on LinkedIn, NADPO, of which I am Chair, was founded in 1993, as the “National Association of Data Protection Officers”. The fact that its founder members thought it appropriate to create a national association of DPOs indicates that there were already a fair few of them around. And of course that was the case: the UK had had a Data Protection Act since 1984. Although that Act didn’t create a formal, statutory, role of DPO, it undoubtedly created the statutory scheme that gave rise to widespread adoption of the title, and the role.
And the UK was behind some other countries, in particular Germany. Although the person who might appear to be the world’s first DPO (or Datenschutzbeauftragter), Willi Birkelbach, is in fact more correctly characterised as the first Data Protection Supervisory Authority.
But who, you ask me, was the UK’s first DPO (and DPO proper)? Well, my friends, the earliest candidate I’ve so far managed to find, from an entry in the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook of 1979, was a certain “Halstead, J” of Lancaster University.
Therefore, unless or until someone comes up with a better candidate, I am going to bestow the title of the UK’s first DPO on J. Halstead.
It would be great to know more about them, as well, so if anyone has any info, I’d love to hear it.
The views in this post (and indeed most posts on this blog) are my personal ones, and do not represent the views of any organisation I am involved with.
NADPO’s 2022 annual conference will see a return to in-person events. And we are delighted that the keynote speaker is UK Information Commissioner John Edwards. John will be joined by a stellar line up including
Maurice Frankel, from the Campaign for Freedom of Information
Professor Victoria Nash, from the Oxford Internet Institute
Professor Lilian Edwards, from Newcastle University, and also the Ada Lovelace Institute
Sarah Houghton, Head of Competition Law at Mishcon de Reya LLP
Stewart Room, of DWF and also President of NADPO
The conference will take place on 22 November, at the Mishcon de Reya offices at Africa House, Kingsway (right next to Holborn tube station).
Attendance is free (as ever) for all NADPO members, and it is not too late to purchase a membership, for the price of £130, which guarantees free attendance at all NADPO events, as well as at some partners’ events, as well as discounted rates on commercial training services from respected providers. Members also receive a monthly newsletter.
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