Tomorrow, Saturday January 28 2012 is the annual Data Privacy Day.
Started in 2007 as ‘European Data Protection Day’ by the Council of Europe, Data Privacy Day is an international holiday that raises awareness on data protection, informing citizens of their rights and good practices, thereby enabling them to exercise these rights more effectively.
Celebrated in the European union, the United States of America and in Canada, the holiday commemorates 28 January 1981, the signing of Convention 108, the first international law on data protection that recognized data protection as a fundamental right.
Events will be held in all participating countries in the days around 28 January to raise awareness about important issues related to personal data.
For European countries this year’s Data Privacy Day is especially significant, as in January 2012 the European Commission proposed a major reform of the EU legal framework on the protection of personal data. Read more about the proposed reform here.