Elizabeth Denham
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, LL. D. (hon.) was the UK
Information Commissioner at the
Information Commissioner's Office
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the independe ...
in
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
from July 2016, taking over the role from
Christopher Graham, until November 2021. Denham previously held the title of Information and Privacy Commissioner for
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, having been appointed to that role in May 2010. Prior to this she had been the Assistant Privacy Commissioner of Canada from 2007.
Early life and education
Denham studied at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
from 1977 to 1984 and holds a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in archival studies from the university's iSchool (Library, Archival and Information Studies).
Career
During her time as Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, Denham called for the
proactive disclosure of records
and published best practices for government ministries and public bodies. She also co-authored a guidance document called ''Getting Accountability Right with a Privacy Management Program''.
Denham was appointed UK Information Commissioner in July 2016. She and her office deal with the
Data Protection Act 2018
The Data Protection Act 2018 (c. 12) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which updates data protection laws in the UK. It is a national law which complements the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and replaces the Data P ...
and the
General Data Protection Regulation
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union regulation on data protection and privacy in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and of human rights law, in partic ...
, the
across the UK; and the
Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation
...
and the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) is a UK Statutory Instrument (SI 2004 No. 3391) that provides a statutory right of access to environmental information held by UK public authorities. The regulations came into force on 1 J ...
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and, to a limited extent, in Scotland.
At the Information Commissioner's Office, she welcomed the introduction of the data protection laws that came into effect in May 2018, and focused on the role data protection must play in innovation, and the importance of organisations understanding the growing onus on companies to be accountable for what they do with personal data. She also called for the Freedom of Information Act to be extended to private bodies doing work on behalf of the public, and proposed a review of legislation around the duty to document information.
Denham has undertaken investigations into
Equifax
Equifax Inc. is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion (together known as the "Big Thr ...
,
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
,
TalkTalk,
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, and oversaw the conclusion of the investigation of the Information Commissioner's Office into charities' fundraising activities. She issued a series of fines for companies behind nuisance marketing, and in December 2018 she welcomed the new law that enabled the Information Commissioner's Office to hold company bosses directly responsible and to fine them personally for breaches of the
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
In May 2017, Denham decided to look into potential unlawful marketing involving repurposing of data during the
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
. When Denham produced her final report in November 2020, she announced that she had "found no further evidence to change
erearlier view that
SCL Group
SCL Group (formerly Strategic Communication Laboratories) was a private British behavioural research and strategic communication company that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving its subsidiaries ...
and
Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intelli ...
were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK." She also said she found no evidence of Russian involvement in the referendum.
She launched the inaugural Data Protection Practitioner Award for Excellence in Data Protection at the 11th annual Information Commissioner's Office conference.
In January 2022, Denham started working at the London offices of global law firm
Baker McKenzie
Baker McKenzie is an international law firm located in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1949, originally named Baker & McKenzie. It now has 77 offices in 46 countries. It employs 4,809 attorneys total, and approximately 13,000 employees tot ...
in a move criticised as "extraordinary" in light of the firm having defended Facebook against regulatory action by the Information Commissioner's Office while Denham was in office, and the short timeframe between leaving office and the announcement being made by the firm.
She currently serves on the Advisory Boards or Boards of Director for Pacific Opera in Victoria, Canada;
for 5Rights, a charity committed to children’s health and safety;
for Oxford University’s Internet Institute;
and for the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Denham has also authored or co-authored a spate of opinions and articles in 2022: including the essay “Citizens first” for the academic journal Information Polity; a call for increasing collaboration among Canada’s digital regulators, posted to the C. D. Howe Institute’s website; and an opinion in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that argued for coordinated, global efforts to create harmonized, comprehensive legal protections for children’s online safety.
Awards and offices
In 2011, Denham received the distinguished alumna award from UBC iSchool (Library, Archival and Information Studies) for her work in archives and the field of access and privacy.
In 2013, she received the
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
for her service as an officer of the legislature of British Columbia, Canada.
In 2016, Denham was awarded the Grace-Pépin Access to Information Award for having been "a staunch advocate for access to information rights."
In 2018, she was placed first in the DataIQ 100 Top 10.
She was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in the
2019 New Years Honours for services to protecting information.
In 2020 she was announced as the winner of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT’s Society Medal as a result of her office's investigation into unlawful data collection practices by political campaigns.
Denham served as Chair of the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, later the Global Privacy Assembly, from 2018 until 2021.
Denham received an honorary doctorate of laws in 2022 from the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, for recognition of her international contributions to privacy and access over decades.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denham, Elizabeth
Year of birth missing (living people)
Canadian archivists
English archivists
UBC School of Library, Archival and Information Studies alumni
Living people
Canadian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire