The Spanish DPA launched Pacto Digital, a digital pact for data protection with the support of over 40 organizations.
The Pacto Digital initiative by the AEPD was officially presented to the public on January 28th, Data Protection Day at a virtual event called “The Forum on Privacy, Innovation and Sustainability. This event was streamed live, with several state, business and media officials in attendance. This initiative is part of the Spanish DPA’s Social Responsibility and Sustainability Framework with the aim of raising awareness, making data protection compatible with innovation and fostering a commitment to privacy among organizations. The principles of this pact promote transparency, giving citizens a greater awareness of what data is being collected and why. The initiative also promotes gender and race equality and ensures the protection of children and other vulnerable persons. It promotes and supports innovation by ensuring that technological advancements avoid perpetuating biases, particularly based on race, origin, belief, religion and gender.
The digital pact initiative launched by the AEPD consists of three documents; a contract, a digital responsibility pledge and a code of conduct.
Organisations which subscribe to this digital pact, would all sign a contract, showing their commitment to implementing the recommendations of the pact within their organisation. In addition, these organisations will commit to giving their employees and users access to the Priority Channel to request the urgent removal of sexual or violent content online, as well as other key tools and resources to help raise awareness on the importance of privacy and personal data.
As part of this initiative, the Spanish DPA has also introduced a Digital Responsibility Pledge containing obligations which the organisations pledge to keep. This is not intended to give subscribing organisations additional responsibilities outside of the legislature to which they’re already held. This pledge is simply tailored to the digital environment and geared towards getting a specific commitment from these organisations to uphold the standard. It outlines the already existing responsibilities of organisations specifically geared towards safety and privacy online. It also incorporates principles that should be considered to ensure that the ethics of data protection remain intact when designing and implementing new technological developments.
Finally, the code of conduct for good privacy practices is geared towards organisations with their own dissemination channels and the media, both of which the AEPD intends to collaborate with to report issues of relevance to their networks and audiences. In addition, the code of conduct states that these organisations commit to refraining from identifying victims of the dissemination of sensitive content or punishing any information which could possibly identify them, particularly regarding public figures.
Forty organisations signed the pact on January 28th, however other interested parties may apply online.
On January 28th, the 40 organisations who already form part of this pact, made their commitment to the principles of data protection and privacy publicly known by signing this agreement. This digital pact is open to any organisations that wish to assume those commitments reflected in the contract. Interested organisations may apply online showing their commitment publicly, and promising to commit to the principles outlined in this pact.
