Privacy Watchdog's Recruitment Slump Hits Silicon Valley

Because Ireland failed to follow through on a promise to bolster its senior ranks, Silicon Valley's top data protection authority in Europe is expected to remain overburdened in a number of high-profile privacy investigations.

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The country hasn't even put out an advertisement for two new data protection commissioners to join Helen Dixon, the Irish agency's only employee at that level as of now, despite saying that the process will be finished early in the new year.

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A Department of Justice official said in a statement on Friday that "the Public Appointments Service has not yet advertised the jobs." To "prepare for the commencement of the recruiting campaign in due course," he continued, work is being done by several governmental authorities.

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As part of the new arrangement, Dixon will take over as chair of the data protection commission, which oversees Big Tech for the European Union as a result of the vast number of companies, including Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, and Apple Inc., that have regional headquarters in Ireland.

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The decision to grow came as a result of years of criticism of the agency's performance from those who worry that it may become a soft touch for businesses with enormous financial resources, undermining the EU's historic General Data Protection Regulation, which in theory allows authorities to impose significant fines on tech giants who disobey the rules.

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The Irish government was cautioned by the German federal regulator in 2020 that it was "insufficiently equipped for its role," and by the DPC itself not a pre-budget statement to the Irish government in late 2021 that it was under "cascading demands and limits."

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Dixon claimed earlier this month to Trade Algo that the DPC's opinions on the selection of the two new commissioners had mostly been "sidelined."

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It was said by her that "there is a government decision and a government policy regarding what it wishes to implement."