A trip to Big Data Paris

Bonjour de Paris.

No, I promise I’m not here to escape to the EU before the doors close on 29 March. I'm here to meet our partner organisations based in France and attend the Big Data Paris conference.

Not only do I want to see what’s going on and to get people's take on how they see the data industry moving forward, but I have (perhaps unwisely) tasked myself with the challenge of presenting the problems of Brexit to an unsuspecting French audience to hear what they think.

Thus far this morning, I have ventured round the conference quizzing data transfer companies—sometimes using my awful French—about how they view the industry in Europe and if they know about the issues with Brexit and data flows ('connaissez-vous les problèmes avec le brexit et le free-flow of data? Ah, non? C'est trop compliqué pour moi d'expliquer en français. Vous parlez anglais, par hasard?').

Many simply haven’t heard about the potential interruption of the free-flow of data, and the others seem unconcerned or haven’t had the capacity to consider the problem when the problem remains unclear and hypothetical.

Of course, the problem is—in theory—less worrisome for EU companies. The UK has agreed to recognise EU standards of data protection as adequate and will allow the processing of personal data of UK citizens in the EU.

Nonetheless, for EU-based international companies with UK branches or UK companies with EU branches, there is a likelihood that changes will have to be made in how they process the personal data of EU citizens if they do so from the UK. They may also have to consider moving their UK operations to the EU. Neither prospect is without consequence. (If you haven’t yet, take a look at the DMA’s Brexit Toolkit, which has advice on these issues).

Interestingly, those I have spoken to are incredulous when I say I believe Brexit will still go ahead. They cannot quite fathom the idea that the UK will do something that will, by most analysis, diminish the size and strength of its economy. Most here are pragmatic in the hope that there will be some kind of deal that will allow decent trade and interaction between the data industries, however.

After all, the data industry is one which breaks down international borders more than most others. They say that when distance doubles, trade halves. This isn’t true for companies who use or trade data, and many take advantage of the expanse of the European market to bring their product to locations where the data industry is not as advanced – namely in Eastern and Southern Europe.

What’s more, the UK is a leader in this market, and many data companies on the continent have replicated ideas and used technologies from the UK. Similarly, as much as 50% of all EU data legislation has been written by the UK. With that in mind, I talked to the French team of a US-founded cloud storage company called Snowflake. While they were surprised to learn of the extent of UK-driven legislation in the EU, they suggested Brexit could be an opportunity to push for similar strengthening of privacy legislation in the rest of the world, particularly in the US.

Something to think about.

On Friday, I met with an equivalent French organisation of the DMA called le syndicat national de la communication directe, or SNCD. Conversly, Brexit will probably mean UK industry increases its presence in Europe as no-doubt we will have some kind of trade deal (at some point in the future), but less power to influence the political decisions in Europe. Thus, working to secure the interests of the UK's data and marketing industry will mean working more with our friends on the continent to make our voice in Europe heard. Indeed, the SNCD faced many of the same issues the UK DMA does, such as waiting for the ePrivacy regulation to take form and waiting for GDPR case law to help define its scope, to name two.

An interesting day still lies ahead and plenty more discussions are to be had. Whatever happens with Brexit and beyond, as I'm sure Humphry Bogart said in Casablanca, 'We'll always have Big Data Paris.'