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National Academy of Public Administration to Hold Privacy Conference

The conference will focus on how state and local governments will face privacy issues.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The National Academy of Public Administration and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have announced that they will host "Personal Privacy in the Digital Age: The Challenge to State and Local Governments."

The conference will feature plenary sessions, six focused workshops and an interactive town meeting. Officials said NAPA and Virginia Tech are sponsoring the event through the Joint Center for eGovernance, a NAPA program established to address the impact of digital technologies on governance processes.

The Joint Center is a unique partnership with Virginia Tech's School of Public & International Affairs and the International Institute for Information Technology. The conference theme originated with members of the center's Information Practices Project and Intergovernmental Consortium, who worked together to develop a comprehensive program.

"Our notion of privacy is being redefined as we speak," said Susan Pandy, the Center's Program Manager. "This event represents an important gathering of decision makers and activists to begin a national dialogue addressing digital security and privacy in the wake of Sept. 11. Information-management practices and interoperability raise important challenges to state and local governments. Various sectors need to begin talking about the proper balance between security and privacy on the one hand, and access to information and protection of sensitive data on the other."

Conference highlights are scheduled to include workshops focusing on key policy issues, including privacy in federal legislation protecting medical and financial records; protecting international data flows; law enforcement, open records and freedom of information; commercialization of the public information; emerging technologies for secure state and local infrastructures; and building better intergovernmental relationships.

The town meeting is slated to help process the work of the opening plenary sessions and workshop sessions to formulate a substantive national agenda and commitment to the future. It also will share important resources and best practices identified throughout the program, generate models of action, and cultivate commitment to an ongoing future process.

The conference will be held May 19-21 in Arlington, Va., and additional conference details are available online.

The National Academy of Public Administration