Privacy Talk with Daniel Drewer, Data Protection Officer at Europol: Why did you start legal work and join Europol?
“This interview recorded on 16th October 2023 is talking about data protection and police organization.”
Kohei is having great time discussing data protection and police organization.
This interview outline:
- Why did you start legal work and join Europol?
- What have you been worked at Europol?
Kohei: So everyone, thank you for coming to the privacy talk. Today, I’m very privileged to invite Daniel from The Hague. He is working on a very important role at the police sector. And I’m so proud to be speaking with him together. So Daniel, thank you for coming to this interview.
Daniel: Kohei, thank you very much for the invitation. I’m looking forward to our talk.
Kohei: So first of all, I’d like to share his profile. Daniel Drewer is Data Protection Officer and Head of the Data Protection Function at Europol. Daniel Drewer grew up in Hamburg. He holds a Master of Law from the University of Hamburg.
Prior to starting his further professional education at the Hanseatic Court in Hamburg, Daniel Drewer worked as a contract lawyer for a media group in Hamburg.
He joined the Legal Service at Europol in 2003. He went on to become Confidentiality Officer with responsibilities in the area of data security, security clearances, handling of classified information and was Secretary to the Europol Security Committee.
In 2007 he was selected as Head of the Information Integrity Unit, responsible for data protection and data security compliance. In 2010 the Europol Management Board appointed him as Data Protection Officer and Head of Europol’s Data Protection Unit. In 2015 he founded the Europol Data Protection Experts Network (EDEN).
The EDEN community consists of 800 + active members from law enforcement, industries, academia and non-governmental organizations. Daniel Drewer chairs the annual EDEN conferences. He contributes as speaker to international data protection conferences and seminars, including CPDP and the MIS Annual Audit conference.
He is co-founder of the Certification Course for Data Protection Officers at the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA) and lecturer at Summer courses on criminal law and data protection law at the Academy for European Law (ERA).
Daniel Drewer is author of articles related to data protection and law enforcement and publishes, inter alia, in the Oxford Law Journal Computer Law & Security Review. Since 2021 he is member of the CEPOL Expert Group on Fundamental Rights.
So these are very great remarks to introduce your profile. Daniel.
Daniel: Thanks very much for the kind introduction.
- Why did you start legal work and join Europol?
Kohei: Thank you. So let’s move on to today’s agenda. First of all, I’m very interested in why you started to work in Europol because Europol has a very important role in the European Union and it’s very important to protect the citizens and to protect the fundamental rights as well. So could you tell us why you started legal work and why did you join the Europol?
Daniel: Thanks a lot Kohei for this question. I understand, actually, two questions. The one question is why I started to work in data protection and the other question is actually why I started at the European police office. I started in data protection many years ago.
You already introduced my background, but I think for me it was a very decisive moment when in 1983 in Germany, the Constitutional Court actually made one very, very important decision at that time.
This was a decision about data collection under the Census Act. And it was the first time actually data protection got into the spotlight of society. And this court decision was paramount because it was designing a right to information self-determination in Germany.
It was the first time that it was made clear that the fundamental right of data protection means that it is up to the individual whether to disclose information about him or herself.
And so at this time , of course I was at high school and I read it in the newspapers and that was for me reason, actually then to think more about data protection and even wrote about this topic an article in my high school newspaper, a whole article about this decision of the German Constitutional Court, not so much about self-determination and data protection..
But as for me as a high school student, the decisive point was that at that time, since there was this public discussion on the Census Act, the state had to decide who actually goes to collect these data in the houses, visit families and request them “to provide us with information about your household” for example.
And there at the time the German state called upon teachers to do this for them to help the state to do that. And when for me as a high school student that was a bridge too far that I said well if these teachers are now going into the houses of the families, I have to write something about this in the school magazine and that was basically my start when it comes to data protection and I never really left this topic that means also during my law studies.
Part of the law studies I dedicated also into the area of data protection because at that time the University of Hamburg was quite vocal on the question of data protection and fundamental rights and also during my to further education as a lawyer I had the possibility to go for training for six months to the Data Protection Authority of my hometown in Hamburg.
And there by coincidence, actually, I was sent to an office in the Data Protection Authority that already at that time took care of data protection in the police and justice sector. I had always been interested in criminal law and criminal procedural law, but then it came together with data protection and criminal law and the work of law enforcement.
- What have you been worked at Europol?
And there was of course a decision made career wise. What do you want to do? Do you want to stay in the area of supervision and work on all data protection topics?
Or actually work in law enforcement and support law enforcement regarding data protection compliance, and then there was the possibility for me to join Europol and I applied.
And first, as you rightfully said, I worked not in data protection although Europol is an organization that since 1999, has strong focus data protection compliance, also a strong tailor made data protection framework.
（Movies: Europol）
I started in the area of confidentiality, IT security. So always related to the protection of information but not from the viewpoint of fundamental rights. And then Europol data protection became more and more important over the years.
Then there was the possibility to change from the area of confidentiality, accreditation of IT systems, registration of classified information into the area of data protection compliance, and I was very fortunate that this was possible.
And if you ask me why, let’s say as a data protection expert, I decided to join law enforcement. I have to say that I think that when we talk about data protection, and if we talk about the hotspots of data protection, that is certainly also in the activities of law enforcement.
So I was very keen, actually, to go in exactly this area, where the risks by default are higher for data subjects on the one side, but on the other side, where you can also have a really strong impact on the protection of citizens and support law enforcement to handle a tailor made data protection framework that they have to operate.
Last but not least, I find particular interesting in data protection and that it is not only about legal compliance, although I’m a trained lawyer. Data protection is multidisciplinary so it is not just legal, it is also IT security.
It is also confidentiality,and it is about fundamental rights compliance. So I think that the multidisciplinary aspect of data protection is something that fascinated me at that time, but it is still fascinating me today in my daily work.
Kohei: Thank you for sharing your history. I agree that multidisciplinary is very important in the protection space. That is why I’m also admired in this space for talking with the different backgrounds, different expertise, and then being inclusive of the process in secured environments for fundamental rights.
As a next question. It’s about Europol itself. Because a lot of the people just heard about Europol but they are actually unaware of what Europol is doing. So could you share about Europol and what is your role as a Europol there?
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