The end of the beginning

As readers of IDPL are no doubt aware, on 25 January 2012 the European Commission published a proposal to reform the EU legal framework for data protection that has captured the attention of the data protection and privacy community around the world as have few other legislative initiatives in recent decades. The attention given to the proposal began even before it was officially released, as a ‘leaked’ preliminary draft found its way onto the Internet in late 2011 and precipitated a veritable feeding frenzy of attention. Since then, there have been numerous conferences, articles, blog entries, etc. devoted to the proposal, which will no doubt only increase as it works its way through the EU legislative process over the next few years.