Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, counselor of State, is a member of the national Commission on informatics and liberties (CNIL) since 2004 and its chair since 2011. It explains why, in the field of data protection, only the union of European countries can cope with the giants of the digital age and will provide the CNIL with the means to effectively meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Small control structure files of the State forty years ago, the CNIL must now deal with a daily life fully digital…
This shows that the legislator of 1978 was well inspired, because he has put in place an institution based on the procedure and its principles are fairly simple, but very robust. These principles are embedded in the evolution of the needs, the Internet, biometrics… They have even inspired other legislations in French-speaking countries or in South America.
The CNIL has been able, from its founding principles, to constantly reinvent his craft. In 1978, at our creation, we were a “regulator” of public files, today we are a regulator of the data : it is a matter of finding a balance between the various uses of the data, the protection of the rights of the people, innovation, safety, and economic models. This capacity to reinvent itself continually is, I believe, one of the characteristics of the commission.
The French you do they seem sensitized to the problems of the digital ?
The maturation of the uses and behaviour is evident since a few years, it is found both in the polls and in the papers : the people are very fond of digital life, but they also express fear of a need for control of their data. They set up their profiles on Facebook, put up ad blockers, the more complex their passwords…
Thanks to the RGPD, the sanction may be up to 4 % of revenue…
