23 May, 2013

ETNO takes part in workshop on Internet Security in Rome

Luigi Gambardella, Chairman of the ETNO Executive Board, took part in the international workshop "Internet Security, the importance of collaboration between companies and authorities for the protection of consumers", held in Rome on 22 May 2013.

The Workshop, organized by the "Alleanza per Internet" initiative, with the support of Google, gathered experts from the private and the public sector. Speakers included Brian Fitzpatrick, responsible for the Google Transparency Engineering Team, Francesco Pizzetti, president of “Alleanza per Internet” and former president of the Italian Data Protection Authority, and Massimiliano Dona, secretary general of the Italian Consumers’ Union. Mr. Fitzpatrick outlined the results of Google’s Transparency Report, which is published by the web-company every six months.

In his intervention, Mr. Gambardella stressed the importance of a high-level collaboration between telecom companies managing networks and public authorities, at the EU and national level, that are tackling the issue of network security and related policy areas like data protection.

On network and information security, Mr. Gambardella expressed ETNO’s support to the Strategy and the Directive adopted by the European Commission last February, praising the proposed extension of the security requirements already imposed to telecom operators to other actors of the digital value chain, such as search engines, e-commerce platforms and social networks.

On the ongoing reform of EU data protection rules, Mr. Gambardella reiterated the association’s support to the scope of the draft Regulation adopted by the European Commission, which foresees that all companies processing data of European citizens, regardless of their geographical location, should comply with the new rules. He also called for the inclusion of an improved risk-based approach to data processing within the final text of the legislation, in order to better balance the protection of privacy and the need for innovation in the digital economy.