IFIP pays tribute to the life and work of Professor Stefano Rodotà, who died earlier this month.
An Italian lawyer and politician known for speaking his mind, Rodotà left Parliament in 1994 and returned to university teaching. In 1997, he became the first president of the Privacy Authority and remained there until 2005. He co-authored the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and was a member of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.
Professor Rodotà was honoured in 2012 with the prestigious Namur Award in 2012 for his lifelong achievements, including a longstanding commitment to a humanistic and holistic view of data protection, data privacy and identity.
Through his studies, teaching, public speaking, writing, political and policy activities, Professor Rodotà had a significant and international impact on legal and ethical approaches to data protection and privacy.
He spoke and wrote often about the issues affecting humans in today’s fast changing society. His acceptance speech at the Namur Award addressed “Identity between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0”, outlining the challenges of knowing what is an identity in today’s fragmented digital society in such domains as law, philosophy, sociology and technology.
