versione italiana

A movie theater at the Italian DPA
On the occasion of the European Privacy Day

Let´s go to the movies at the Italian DPA – or, how to use the movies for fostering the protection of privacy. This is an initiative targeted to students the Italian DPA decided to launch on the occasion of the European privacy day; the privacy day falls on the 28th January of each year and was introduced by the Council of Europe four years ago (more information here).

The initiative was termed "Cinema & Privacy"; it is aimed at raising youths´ awareness of the importance of protecting privacy in today´s society and of the need for learning how to protect one´s privacy.

Four movies will be shown at the Conference Room of the Italian DPA (Piazza Monte Citorio, 123 – Rome) from the 28th of January to the 2nd of February, one on each day, addressing privacy issues from different standpoints.

The first movie to be shown is "Gattaca", which deals with the use of genetic data; this will be followed by "Rear Window" (on voyeurism), "Das Leben der Anderen" (The Lives of Others), a German film dealing with totalitarian surveillance, and finally by "Minority Report" – depicting a future where technology and surveillance systems are all-pervasive.

Students from high schools in Rome will be invited to the shows and called upon to discuss and exchange views.

Each movie will be introduced by one of the four members of the DPA´s collegiate panel as well as by a video created on purpose by the Italian DPA to describe – again with the help of movies – minor and major "intrusions" into our private sphere.

The video is a collection of clips from various movies that have directly or indirectly addressed privacy issues – from daily activities to the use of sophisticated privacy-intrusive technologies up to disquieting futuristic views.

Rome, 26 January 2010