As part of and in the lead up to the launch of our ‘Unleashing the Potential of the Internet for ASEAN Economies’ report, the APAC Bureau held several roundtable discussions in Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta in late 2014 and early 2015. Organised with Singapore-based research firm TRPC, these events brought together stakeholders from government, industry, academia, and civil society to recommend steps to overcoming policy, regulatory and market challenges to connectivity, interconnectivity and interoperability of systems, networks and devices, as a way to help ASEAN economies build robust digital economies.
Roundtable on ‘Privacy in an Internet of Things World’
When it Happened: 15 December 2014
Where It Happened: Westin Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok, Thailand
Recognising the various opportunities presented by the Internet of Things, more than 60 stakeholders gathered in December to discuss ways by which Thailand can capitalise on big data to reduce costs and improve efficiency and service delivery across different sectors, while also maintaining end-user safeguards for privacy. Co-organised with the Thailand Chapter of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), the roundtable focused on Thailand’s planned Personal Data Protection Act, and the benefits and disadvantages of having a comprehensive law over disparate sectorial provisions on privacy.
The event noted the variety of privacy frameworks across different countries, touching upon the main drivers of data protection policy—human rights protection on the one hand, and issues like security on the other–and the importance of developing privacy policies that take into account local norms and customs. It concluded that privacy can be addressed broadly through data anonymisation, as well as policies that enforce user-consent and ethical behaviour in the collection and sharing of personally identifiable information
