Guernsey Finance Chief Executive Dominic
Wheatley was recently part of a conference discussion panel on
'Confidentiality in a transparent age'. In an article
for International Adviser, he discusses
this highly topical issue which has profound
considerations for many aspects of modern civil
society.
Confidentiality is an issue with some significant pressure
points – for instance between the demands of regulations such
as GDPR to protect the privacy of personal data, and the demands of
many for personal data to be publicly available – and areas
where clarification is needed – for instance, the distinction
between legitimate public interest concerns and public
curiosity.
These issues are not straightforward and lend themselves to much
subjective thinking. Furthermore, as with many aspects of human
behaviour, obvious responses based on shallow thinking are as
dangerous as simply avoiding the issues and making things up as we
go along.
