I have been teaching privacy law since about 2005. I also started doing IAPP training sessions around 2010. Back then, our classes were small and infrequent. But, as the privacy industry has grown over the years, it's not surprising that classes got bigger, and the number of training sessions have increased.
This year, the law school at the University of Ottawa is offering my class during both terms and we are capping enrollment at 60 students per term. That means 120 law students learning privacy — quite a change from the six students in my first class — and this is just in this one institution alone.
Plus, because the size of each class is capped, it means some who want to participate even miss out. And that is just my class. Ottawa University has a fantastic roster of world-renowned professors much better than me, who have spent their lives in academia, studying and teaching in the areas of privacy, technology, robotics and artificial intelligence.
I noticed on LinkedIn that Dan Solove is offering a webinar with some pretty heavy lifters who also teach privacy law at universities in various countries to discuss the topic, so it's definitely a needed service — although, sniff sniff, I wasn't invited to be one of the speakers in their webinar.
But what this means, is that all over the world, privacy — and related topics like AI and cybersecurity — are being taught by some brilliant people.
I went to law school in the 1990s. There was no privacy law program offered. The newest area of law being offered was environmental law. So? I think today's students are lucky to be able to learn about all these new, interesting and challenging issues surrounding law, technology, robotics and AI. Sometimes, especially since some of our kids are in university, I think about how great it would be to be a student again.
Still on the topic of teaching and training, this week I had the pleasure of conducting IAPP training to some of the folks at the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. And a little while ago, a cohort of provincial employees took virtual training. It's great to see the regulators practicing what they preach.
OK. Enough about training and learning. It's time to start thinking about the weekend. For me, that involves a lot of stuffing, pumpkin pie and turkey — my butcher wraps it in bacon and it's delicious. But, let me remind you of another important thing: the deadline to submit a proposal to be a speaker at next spring's IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium 2025 is almost here. So, if you have something to teach — and want a speaker's pass to the conference — consider putting in a proposal.
Kris Klein, CIPP/C, CIPM, FIP, is the managing director for Canada for the IAPP.