The National Privacy Commission (NPC) recently unveiled its new program that will establish a skills benchmark for local privacy professionals.
According to a recent report, the DPO Accountability, Compliance, and Ethics (ACE) Program will comprise of intensive lectures and workshops spread across 3 days.
For its pilot class, 50 practicing Data Protection Officers (DPOs) from leading government offices and top corporations are attending.
The Privacy Commissioner stressed the significance of building trust in today’s digital world, which is a key concern where DPOs can make a real difference.
The ACE Program will align all of the participants in doing the right things, right. Overall, it aims to build privacy resilience and culture in whatever milieu one is living and working in.
Data ethics are the brakes needed now. The weight of making judgment calls, on behalf of data subjects, falls on the shoulders of the Commission with the help of the DPOs.
Based on the latest McKinsey Report, cross-border data flow has swelled to more than 210 terabytes per second, or equivalent to about 1.6 billion selfies a minute.
The world is in the cusp of a digital transformation that has given birth to new industries and forced old ones to adapt.
The ACE Program fulfils the goal of the Commission to train an entire generation of DPOs prepared to embrace ethical data processing.
The DPOs were described as the representatives of the Commission in their respective organisations. Ultimately, DPOs protect their organisations above all.
It is in the interest of everyone that the processing of personal data is handled with clear lines of accountability, in compliance with the law, and in the most ethical way possible.
The Program has three levels and comprises advanced case studies, practical, and written exams.
Those who successfully passed will be issued a certificate reflecting their DPO skills level: ACE-1, ACE-2, and ACE-3.
Participants in the pilot class are the DPOs from diverse and notable organisations.
The DPO ACE Program will be made publicly available to all interested DPOs in the beginning of next year, alongside other major initiatives that the Commission plans to roll out.
These initiatives include PSST (Privacy, Safety, Security, and Trust Online) campaign, the Data Privacy Council, and Privacy Watch.
The demand for data protection officers is rising worldwide as the global technology industry booms.
The International Association of Privacy Professionals estimated that around 75,000 DPOs are needed all over the globe.
DPOs are most sought-after in industries processing large amounts of personal data, such as technology, finance, healthcare, retail, and digital marketing.
