The agenda for Porvoo 17 – the seventeenth meeting of the Porvoo Group on electronic identity – is almost final, with less than two weeks to go before the conference. Porvoo 17 is co-organised by the Porvoo Group and e-Forum, and will take place in Brussels on 10-11 May.

Latest confirmed speakers are Neil Clowes of the UK Cabinet Office, who will give an update on the STORK 2.0 project, a major pan-European eID initiative, and Dr. Steve Purser, Head of Technical Competence Department at the European Network and Information Security Agency. Among the other speakers are representatives of the European Commission, Microsoft. Zetes Pass, different European Union member states, and Japan's Next Generation IC Card System Study Group (NICSS).

The theme of the conference is: Can legislation and technology offer the assurance that digital identities and personal data are safe on the internet? Participation is free of charge. Registration can be done via the e-Forum website.

The conference will consider the following questions:

As more and more of daily life goes online, individuals are becoming more concerned about protecting their digital privacy. They want assurances that their digital identities, the digital patterns that they build up, and the digital trails they leave behind will not be compromised or misused. Can legislation and technology offer this assurance? Do legislators and technologists even fully grasp the meaning and implications of online identity? Legislation can be a blunt instrument that leads to unintended consequences. Technology can be a tool for progress, but can also be distrusted, and can be used for harmful ends. Can technology by itself guarantee privacy? What steps need to be taken to help technological development bridge the trust gap?

For more information, click here.

City/Location: Brussels