All in IT together – ppbr

From Facebook to data sharing, when it comes to IT issues, Iberian clients experience the same challenges as every other company in the world

Desde el uso de Facebook al intercambio de archivos, las empresas de la Península Ibérica se enfrentan a un alto nivel de riesgo vinculado al uso de las nuevas tecnologías de la información, afirma César Bessa Monteiro de ppbr y representante de ITechLaw en Portugal.

The ItechLaw Association held its annual meeting in San Francisco in May.
The organisation discussed a selection of IT issues that clients are dealing with but the evident overall theme was the global nature of the problems.
“The main IT challenges are not Iberian, they are international,” says César Bessa Monteiro, Partner at pbbr and Portuguese member and local representative of ITechLaw. “Iberian companies are facing the same issues as most other companies, IT is a global platform.”
Topics currently under consideration include the future of software development in a wireless market, IT contracting and outsourcing as well as privacy matters and regulation. Bessa Monteiro adds that data transfer is one of the most important areas of concern for European clients.
In Portugal, for instance, companies must now comply with EU data transfer protocols – through which it will no longer be necessary to receive clearance from the local data protection authorities to transfer data between EU members.
This is not the case, however, in the US, he warns. If a Portuguese company wants to transfer data to the US, it must get clearance from the local data protection authority or run the risk of failing to comply with EU regulation and Portuguese law, unless an agreement is signed according to the standard model approved by EU or the US organisation is self-certified to the US-EU Safe Harbour Framework.
Bessa Monteiro also believes that social networking remains an area of continuing challenges.
“There are lots of problems with social networking sites in terms of privacy, advertising, bullying and, as seen in the UK recently, breaching court orders,” he continues. “There needs to be clearer rules globally on how such sites operate.”

Garcia-Sicilia

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