EFF Staff Attorney, Nate Cardozo, will be participating on a panel about Transparency Reports at the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection Conference in Brussels. Join him!

Panel Description

The Snowden revelations led to public outcry against the Internet companies that were associated with the PRISM programme. In order to mitigate this negative impact, businesses are trying to reposition themselves in the triangle of citizens, industry and the state, through the publication of transparency reports. The number of such reports has increased significantly in the last couple of years and companies publish them as a self-regulatory initiative that contributes to the bridging of this loss of control. This panel will discuss whether transparency reports are actually a tool that contributes to transparency and accountability, whether companies (alone) are the best-suited entities to publish them and whether regulation of the content and publication of transparency reports is necessary. Moreover the panel will discuss whether there is a need for regulation and standardisation of the content and publication of these reports.