ODPA Data Protection Teabreak

It is people, not laws, that drive privacy. What about privacy makes it universal across the world and throughout history? How do non-Western societies demonstrate how individuals, communities and civilizations instinctively cherish privacy? How did the Ancient Romans solve universal and timeless privacy problems around maintaining and verifying identity? This podcast series, Privacy across Time and Space, was inspired by a panel discussion at the Venice Privacy Symposium in May 2025. In it we hear from global privacy leaders Alex White (Privacy Commissioner, Bermuda PrivCom), Alexandra Delaney Bhattacharya (Isle of Man Information Commissioner) and Shana Morgan (Global Head of AI, L3Harris Tech). as they share inspiring stories of privacy as both an inalienable right and a practical solution that transcends global, political, and socio-economic boundaries. In this concluding episode, Bailiwick Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan discusses why privacy is more than just a compendium of laws, with a deep historical and philosophical foundation that has shaped, over time, the principles and rights that we embrace today.

It is people, not laws, that drive privacy. What about privacy makes it universal across the world and throughout history? How did the Ancient Romans solve the timeless privacy problems around maintaining and verifying identity? What can cinema reveal about privacy in Indian culture? How is privacy viewed in indigenous communities and how has their data been misused? This podcast series, Privacy Across Time and Space, was inspired by a panel discussion at the Venice Privacy Symposium in May 2025. In it we hear from global privacy leaders Alexander White (Queensland Privacy Commissioner), Alexandra Delaney-Bhattacharya (Isle of Man Information Commissioner) and Shana Morgan (Global Head of AI, L3Harris Tech). as they share inspiring stories of privacy as both an inalienable right and a practical solution that transcends global, political, and socio-economic boundaries. In this episode, storyteller Alexandra Delaney-Bhattacharya takes us through the cultural associations of privacy in India and what analysing contemporary films can tell us about how privacy is understood.

It is people, not laws, that drive privacy. What about privacy makes it universal across the world and throughout history? How do non-Western societies demonstrate how individuals, communities and civilisations instinctively cherish privacy? How did the Ancient Romans solve universal and timeless privacy problems around maintaining and verifying identity? This podcast series, Privacy Across Time & Space, was inspired by a panel discussion at the Venice Privacy Symposium in May 2025. In it we hear from global privacy leaders Alexander White (Queensland Privacy Commissioner), Alexandra Delaney-Bhattacharya (Isle of Man Information Commissioner) and Shana Morgan (Global Head of AI, L3Harris Tech). as they share inspiring stories of privacy as both an inalienable right and a practical solution that transcends global, political, and socio-economic boundaries. In this first episode, Commissioner Brent Homan talks with Alexander White, a former privacy advisor to the US Department of Homeland Security, Bermuda’s first Privacy Commissioner and now Queensland’s new Privacy Commissioner.

It is people, not laws, that drive privacy. What about privacy makes it universal across the world and throughout history? How did the Ancient Romans solve the timeless privacy problems around maintaining and verifying identity? What can cinema reveal about privacy in Indian culture? How is privacy viewed in indigenous communities and how has their data been misused? This podcast series, Privacy across Time and Space, was inspired by a panel discussion at the Venice Privacy Symposium in May 2025. In it we hear from global privacy leaders Alexander White, Queensland's new Privacy Commissione; Alexandra Delaney-Bhattacharya, Isle of Man Information Commissioner and Shana Morgan, Global Head of AI, L3Harris Tech; as they share inspiring stories of privacy as both an inalienable right and a practical solution that transcends global, political, and socio-economic boundaries. In this podcast, storyteller Shana Morgan discusses the historic underpinnings of indigenous data privacy and how it is uniquely viewed within indigenous communities and their collective-focused society.

Guernsey student Madelaine Russell was the 2024 beneficiary of a prestigious bursary which has transported her to the other side of the world and changed her horizons. Each year, just one sixth form student from the Bailiwick is eligible for a fully funded place at Brock University in Ontario as part of the historic links between Canada and Guernsey. In this ODPA podcast, the political science student sits down for a conversation with Bailiwick Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan – who just so happens to hail from Canada. They discuss life in a cold climate, how her interest in public outreach and human rights led to her becoming the first successful applicant of the ODPA’s new intern programme and their common love of sports. This podcast is part of the Office of the Data Protection Authority’s social initiative which aims to harness the power of shared experiences and stories to encourage ethical data use and engage people on a cultural level.

This is the third and final instalment in the ODPA’s podcast series, Data, Democracy and Freedom. The series examines: • How people’s information can be weaponized to undermine elections and democracy • How to preserve civil liberties and strike the right balance between national security/program delivery and upholding privacy rights • How technology may be influencing our freedom of thought and expression In this podcast, ODPA Commissioner Brent Homan talks to human rights lawyer and author Susie Alegre. They explore tech-driven threats to our mental freedom - how algorithms feed off our personal data and filter content which end up shaping our everyday thoughts and choices from what we eat to how we vote. Susie Alegre is a legal pioneer in digital human rights, in particular the impact of AI on the human rights of freedom of thought and opinion. She founded the Isle of Man’s Island Rights Initiative, has an MA Hons in French and Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, a Masters in European and International Human Rights Law from the University of Nantes and a PhD in International Human Rights Law from the University of Roehampton. Susie is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI) and is fluent in French and Spanish. Susie has worked with many NGOs including Amnesty International and international organisations including the UN, the EU and the Council of Europe. Her first book ‘Freedom to Think’ won Financial Times Technology Book of the Year 2022 and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize 2023. She has recently published a second book ‘Human Rights, Robot Wrongs: Being Human in the Age of AI’.

Travis LeBlanc is a leading US Civil Rights lawyer, former Chief of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Enforcement Bureau under President Obama and current member of the US government’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board member (PCLOB). In this podcast, he talks to Bailiwick of Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan about his re-appointment to PCLOB, the greatest challenges to preserving civil liberties and striking the right balance between national security and upholding privacy rights. This is the second in the ODPA’s podcast series, Data, Democracy and Freedom. The series examines: • how people’s information can be weaponized to undermine elections and democracy. • How to preserve civil liberties and strike the right balance between national security/program delivery and upholding privacy rights. • how technology may be influencing our freedom of thought and expression

This is the first in the ODPA’s new podcast series, Data, Democracy and Freedom. It examines: • How people’s information can be weaponized to undermine elections and democracy. • How to preserve civil liberties and strike the right balance between national security/program delivery and upholding privacy rights. • How technology may be influencing our freedom of thought and expression In this first episode, Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan sits down with privacy and civil liberties advocate Dr Colin Bennett to discuss Privacy and Politics, surveillance technologies, and whether artificial intelligence is a friend or foe for personal freedom. Dr Bennett is Professor of Political Science at the University of Victoria, Canada, Professor Emeritus at UVIC as well as an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Global Studies, and writer of many books and articles including: ‘Transparent Lives: Surveillance in Canada’; ‘Security Games: Surveillance and Control at Mega-Events’; and ‘The Governance of Privacy: Policy Instruments in Global Perspective’.

Revealing more of a personal side to Bailiwick of Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan as he talks to Radio Guernsey presenter Jim Delbridge on his weekly show, sharing stories of his youth and how he is finding life on the Island - all framed by a Canadian soundtrack of Rush, the Tragically Hip and the Spoons! From Texas, snowballs and the world's longest skating rink to island cliff hikes and scraped up cars - a fun chat definitely worth a listen!!

In the ODPA’'s 2025 Project Bijou lecture, Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan sits down with Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind to discuss her vision as a new Commissioner for Australia, children’s rights, how to make social media safer without turning young people into outlaws and the mass adoption of AI. ⭐ What is the Bijou Lecture series? The ODPA launched its annual Bijou Lecture in 2022, as part of its outreach arm ‘Project Bijou’ which aims to encourage the sharing of stories, knowledge and experiences related to ethical data use, in a way that benefits everyone. You can access all lectures at: www.odpa.gg/project-bijou/the-bijou-lecture

Guernsey politician, PR expert, businessman, musician, writer and keen runner Steve Falla is perpetually in motion. As vice-president of the Economic Development Committee (at the time of recording, Feb 2024) he’s better placed than most to understand the financial challenges facing both government and Guernsey residents amid soaring living costs and increased demands on infrastructure. In this Project Bijou podcast, Deputy Falla sits down for a discussion with Bailiwick Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan to discuss his call for ‘boldness’, the impact digital connectivity has had on data privacy, and the critical importance of elevated data protection practices to support a vibrant and globally competitive financial services sector. Project Bijou is the Office of the Data Protection Authority’s social initiative, which aims to harness the power of shared experiences and stories to promote ethical data use and engage people on a cultural level.

Storytelling is one of the most effective ways of sharing knowledge and can be a powerful tool to inspire change. Project Bijou is the Office of the Data Protection Authority’s social initiative, which aims to harness the power of shared experiences and stories to promote ethical data use and engage people on a cultural level. In this Project Bijou podcast, Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan sits down with his counterpart, Jersey’s Information Commissioner Paul Vane, to discuss the shared opportunities and challenges of overseeing data protection and privacy legislation within smaller jurisdictions which are also global financial centres. They talk about how regulatory co-operation can help overcome technological challenges, promote compliance and amplify their ability to protect privacy rights in the Channel Islands.

Alun Williams is the Be Active Education Lead at Guernsey’s Health Improvement Commission, a charity dedicated to empowering, enabling and encouraging healthy living in Guernsey and Alderney. In this Project Bijou guest podcast, Alun discusses working with the ODPA on a fitness tracker aimed at getting Bailiwick children moving and his long, distinguished career serving the Bailiwick.

For this year's Bijou Lecture join Dr Vicki Nash for an exploration of online safety issues for children. In this year’s lecture she shares her insights with the ODPA’s Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan. They start off by discussing how keeping children safe in the digital era means striking a delicate balance between our parental urge to protect them and the importance of empowering them. They move on to explore the need for parents and children to openly share their experiences and knowledge with each other, and how education leaders play a critical role in empowering young people to be safer online. Moving to the role of regulation, they explore the implications of the Online Safety Act which was passed into UK law in October 2023. Finally, they take an imaginary trip to the year 2054, to imagine how today’s children will look back, as adults, on the actions (and inactions) of today’s tech giants, parents, and policymakers. ------ ⭐ What is the Bijou Lecture series? The ODPA launched its annual Bijou Lecture in 2022, as part of its outreach arm ‘Project Bijou’ which aims to encourage the sharing of stories, knowledge and experiences related to ethical data use, in a way that benefits everyone. You can access all lectures at: www.odpa.gg/project-bijou/the-bijou-lecture

* WARNING: This podcast includes references to rape and sexual assault and the murder of Brianna Ghey. Details of support / advice are available here if you are affected by this: https://www.odpa.gg/help-and-advice/mental-health-support/* As most parents or carers will tell you, screen time is an ongoing battle. How much is too much? What are they looking at? Will they miss out on opportunities or friendships if you don't let young people have a smartphone? As the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s first ever digital safety development officer, Laura Simpson has at least some of the answers. She is passionate about educating and empowering children and young people to make safer choices when navigating the online world. Employed by Guernsey Police and based in the high-tech crime unit, Laura is only too familiar with the harms that can arise when people's personal information is shared inappropriately. Laura tells Katherine Levy about her role, how it intersects with personal data and what we can all do to help educate children and young people about digital literacy.

In the first data protection tea break of 2024 we meet the Bailiwick’s new Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan. Previously the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Canada Brent has led a number of high profile investigations into areas such as facial recognition, location tracking and behavioural advertising to name just a few. He has also been involved in a number of global privacy initiatives. Kirsty Bougourd chats to Brent about his plans to build on the existing work of the Office of the Data Protection Authority through a 3 pillars strategy of balance, trust and partnership. He talks about what the regulated community can expect from the ODPA and his plans to continue to engage and support the islands’ population. Brent discusses the global aspect of work relating to data protection and how living in smaller jurisdictions can magnify the risks. They also discuss continuing to develop activities and resources to support young people and to educate parents and their children about how new technology uses their data and can both enhance their lives but also potentially cause harm. In particular Brent highlights the ongoing work developing a Children’s Framework to help set guidelines on the use of young people’s data in the Bailiwick and the need for people to take part in the survey to produce something fit for purpose. Kirsty and Brent also chat about the big move and how him and his family are all settling in and embracing island life.

Discover the story behind Warro the Data Bear and her friend Bijou the Blue Tit. The book is the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s Office of the Data Protection Authority’s (ODPA) latest project to help engage young people with the issues around data protection. Aimed at children aged 7-10 years old, the book tells of Warro’s adventure into a world filled with data where she learns about what personal data is and how it might created and used. The ODPA are distributing the book to all year 4 students in Bailiwick schools in November 2023 to tie in with the UN’s World Children’s Day. Katherine Levy Spencer speaks to author Kirsty Bougourd about the book and where the ideas came from. More at: https://www.odpa.gg/warro

* WARNING: This podcast includes reference to suicide, please contact www.samaritans.org if you are affected by this.* In this episode the Office of the Data Protection Authority's Senior Investigator, Ed Chapman, talks to Kirsty Bougourd about why we should all be so careful with personal data - whether it’s ours or someone else’s. Ed leads the ODPA’s investigations into data breaches and sees first-hand the effect of a breach on the person whose personal data is involved, and also helps uncover how the breach occurred. He talks about how we can all become complacent with personal data and lose sight of its incredible value, and how intrinsically it is linked to who we are. Ed also discusses how easy it can be to unintentionally cause a breach to occur and why following some simple steps can help prevent them from happening. In early 2023 the ODPA published a document, written by Ed, explaining the Top 10 Common Pitfalls seen when handling people's data, and the practical steps that can be taken to mitigate them. As well as talking about the importance of personal data, Ed and Kirsty discuss these pitfalls and explain the reasoning behind some of them in more detail. You can read more about the 10 common pitfalls at: www.odpa.gg/information-hub/guidance/handling-data-breaches/

The Office of the Data Protection Authority is honoured to have Elizabeth Renieris, an expert on data governance and the human rights implications of new and emerging technologies, as our 2023 Bijou guest lecturer. The author of Beyond Data: Reclaiming Human Rights at the Dawn of the Metaverse, her passion for data protection was ignited at university when a classmate hacked into internal residential house directories, scraped the student ID photos of female residents from their pages and pitted the undergraduate women against each other on a website called Facemash. Her classmate was Mark Zuckerberg, who went on to control one of the most powerful companies in the world. Introduction by Bailiwick of Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Emma Martins. More at: https://www.odpa.gg/project-bijou/the-bijou-lecture/the-bijou-lecture-2023/

In this episode, Kirsty Bougourd speaks to Matthew Parker who, for the past 11 years, has dedicated hundreds of hours of his free time to educating the Bailiwick's young people about online safety and data protection. In early 2023 Matthew was awarded one of the Islands Data Governance Forum's inaugural Bijou Awards for his dedication and commitment all given to local schools for free. He discusses his motivation and how the digital landscape has changed over the years.