The two-day event is the latest in a series organised by Victoria University, Department of Internal Affairs and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and features another expert line-up of international and domestic speakers.
“The Identity Conferences in 2008 and 2012 started a conversation for New Zealanders about managing digital identity and the wider implications for us and the rest of the world,” says Victoria’s Chair in Digital Government, Professor Miriam Lips, who will be speaking at the conference. “We are meeting again to discuss what has changed and what happens next.”
This year’s conference theme is ‘Enabling Digital Identity and Privacy in a Connected World’ and, among its many strands, explores the critical tensions between digital identity and privacy in the drive for data-driven innovation.
“While governments seek to deliver better public services and security, and corporates want to deliver more accurately what customers want, the public needs reassurance the right to privacy will be protected,” says Professor Lips. “Internationally, the Edward Snowden revelations have highlighted issues of trust and put pressure on existing social contracts between governments and their people.”
“New Zealand continues to learn from international thought leadership and experience. We are considered a world leader in the area of digital identity and privacy. But we cannot act alone. Solutions for many of the problems in the digital identity field depend on international agreement, standardisation and co-operation.”
The American tech blogger and journalist Doc Searls, Carnegie Mellon University privacy researcher Alessandro Acquisti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology data scientist Sandy Pentland and European digital child rights scholar Simone van der Hof headline a powerful list of thought leaders on digital identity.
Other speakers include Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, Privacy Commissioner John Edwards, Government Statistician Liz MacPherson, former Australian privacy commissioner Malcolm Crompton, and Loyalty NZ CEO Stephen England-Hall.
There will also be breakout work streams on service transformation, cyber-crime, data analytics, Privacy By Design, cyber-security, transparency and digital citizenship, and the world of sensors and the Internet Of Things.
The Identity Conference 2015 will be held at Te Papa in Wellington on 18-19 May. For more information, visit http://identityconference.victoria.ac.nz/default.aspx