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Jan 28 - Today Is Data Privacy Day

In response to the increasing levels of data protection concerns, and the global importance of privacy and data security, countries and organisations world-wide will come together today to celebrate and embrace data privacy through Data Protection Day. Now in its ninth year, Data Protection Day was first launched by the Council of Europe in 2007 and is a yearly event, held on the 28th January.

Last year, on Data Protection Day, the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, in its role as Data Protection Commissioner, earmarked 2014 as a year to take significant steps in raising awareness of privacy matters through the launch of the "Control Your Privacy" Campaign. As part of that campaign, the Data Protection Commissioner engaged with middle schools, giving insightful presentations to year 7 students. It was established that 92% of those students used social media platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat. 60% of them used social media every day, and 33% of them were not using privacy controls and were at risk. Given these statistics, the importance of data protection awareness cannot be understated.

Further to this, the Data Protection Commissioner also provided presentations at Bayside and Westside Secondary Schools as well as the College, engaging with students of varying age groups. Further events included taking to Main Street to engage with the public directly in an Awareness Day as well as providing thought provoking presentations to school teachers.

As the importance of privacy is a shared responsibility, the ‘Control Your Privacy Campaign’ involves other stakeholders in promoting awareness throughout Gibraltar. Much of the work undertaken has been carried through with the collaboration and involvement of other important stakeholders such as the Department of Education, the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Royal Gibraltar Police, and the Ombudsman. The Commissioner looks forward to developing these bonds further throughout 2015.

Raising awareness empowers individuals to help them exercise their data protection rights, and is therefore vitally important. With that in mind, this year, the Data Protection Commissioner aims to continue to remain active in educating the public of Gibraltar on data protection issues and expand the “Control Your Privacy” campaign to a wider audience. The aim is not only to target students, but parents, the general public, and businesses of all sizes too.

The Commissioner continues to give presentations at secondary school level and, going forward will be revisiting all middle schools in Gibraltar, engaging with the new Year 7 intake. This year, the Commissioner is proud to announce the launch of the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority’s presence on social media. The GRA can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and, amongst other things, useful data protection information is provided on a weekly basis. In an increasingly digital age, it is hoped that through these social media sites, data protection awareness can reach the general public directly.

As always, the Commissioner’s office is at the public’s disposal should anyone wish to discuss matters which affect their privacy or feel that their data protection rights are not being correctly addressed.

For further information please contact the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority on +350 200 74636 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.