Background

In a global, technology-driven marketplace where more and more businesses collect, handle and transport sensitive personal data across national borders, privacy and data protections issues have become increasingly important.

More than 201 million individuals and organizations around the world are using the Internet to communicate, seek information and to engage in electronic commerce.

As we approach the 21st Century, data protection and privacy laws are spreading widely as individual countries create their own privacy rules to regulate trans-border and electronic data flows.

The October 1998 implementation of the European Union Data Protection Directive is likely to have serious implications for companies in North and South America, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East that move personal data on their customers, employees or vendors across national borders--online or off-line.

There is a natural connection between all of these issues and the valuable resources and opportunities for dialogue PrivacyExchange provides.

The idea to create a new global resource that brings together trans-national and cross-cultural views on privacy and data protection -- allowing companies, governments, consumers, experts and the media to track the emerging global privacy system -- rose out of informal meetings in Germany between EU and U.S. government and business representatives, academics, legal and privacy experts in 1996 and 1997.

More than a year later, with the assistance of a prestigious group of international government, business, academic and technology experts and the financial support of business and industry association sponsors from the United States, Canada and Germany, PrivacyExchange is now a fully operational website and forum which, in keeping with the tradition of the Net, is completely free.

After a half year long beta test period, the site was publicly launched December 2, 1998 at the Fifth Annual Privacy & American Business Conference in Washington, DC.

Page last updated October 25, 1999

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