WRITTEN ON May 13th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, What do we want?

This looks good:

Private Data, Open Government: Questions of Information – 13 May 2009

As Richard Thomas prepares to stand down as Information Commissioner, he is to host a conference at the QEII Centre in Westminster on 13 May, to take stock of progress with Freedom of Information and Data Protection. The aim is to conduct a high-level policy focused discussion on the contribution of open government and privacy protection, standing back from immediate preoccupations to look at the underlying policy issues and challenges for the future.

Over 200 high-level stakeholders will be invited and BBC journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has agreed to host a ‘question time’ panel session to consider issues such as:

* What part do Freedom of Information and Data Protection now play in the democratic process?
* What are the real benefits and problems of Open Government?
* How should the lines be drawn between Security and Privacy?

The keynote speech will be delivered by Jack Straw MP, the Justice Secretary before Richard Thomas will offer some reflections on his time as Information Commissioner.

Confirmed panellists so far include Peter Fleischer (Global Privacy Counsel, Google), Shami Chakrabarti (Director, Liberty), Dominic Grieve MP (Shadow Justice Secretary), Alan Beith MP (Chair of the Justice Select Committee), Roger Smith (Director, Justice) and Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive, Royal Society of Arts).

I cant be there; I’m stuck in a cafe in Peterborough with the nailbiting question of whether IPS will produce an expensive little booklet that lets me out of this country and into another one. Glad of any reports back. Toby is Tweeting I think (or is the QEII a mobile Faraday cage?)