The UK’s new Information Commissioner will be charged with a post-Brexit “shake up” of data rules, including getting rid of cookie pop-ups.
John Edwards has been named the next head of data regulator the ICO.
The government said Edwards, currently the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner, would “go beyond the regulator’s traditional role”.
The job would now be “balanced” between protecting rights and promoting “innovation and economic growth”.
Edwards has been named as the government’s preferred candidate, and said it is a “great honour”.
“I look forward to the challenge of steering the organisation and the British economy into a position of international leadership in the safe and trusted use of data for the benefit of all,” he said.
His predecessor, current Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, said Edwards “will take on a role that has never been more important or more relevant to people’s lives.”
The government’s shake-up of the Information Commissioner’s Office was announced alongside planned changes to data protection post-Brexit.
