Deirdre G. Martin Memorial Lecture on Privacy Law 3

The Deirdre G. Martin Memorial Lecture was established thanks to the generosity of her colleagues at the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Legal Division.

Ms. Martin (’78) passed away on June 21, 2006 after a short illness. She was a loving mother of three children, a passionate and excellent lawyer, a dedicated daughter and sister, and a caring friend to many people, each of whom feels her loss deeply. Her law school friends remember her charming and infectious smile—it will be sadly missed.

Ms. Martin was Senior Counsel with the Insurance Bureau of Canada from 1998 until 2006. She was an expert on the application of the federal, Alberta, and British Columbia privacy laws to the property and casualty insurance industry. Ms. Martin was a gifted speaker who enjoyed making presentations on the implementation of these privacy laws. Between 2001 and 2004, she conducted training seminars across Canada to over two thousand people from P&C insurance companies, independent brokers, and claims adjusters.

The lecture is held annually in February.

Dr. Gandy has recently published a book entitled Coming to Terms with Chance: Engaging Rational Discrimination and Cumulative Disadvantage. The book is a critical technology assessment focused on the societal impacts that flow from the use of statistical techniques that affect the life chances of individuals as a function of their membership in analytically defined groups. After a brief introduction to the arguments and evidence provided within the book, the lecture will focus on an examination of the options available to policy makers for limiting the harms generated by the widespread use of these discriminatory techniques. Traditional approaches – the protection of privacy through restrictions on the collection and use of personal information – will be compared with alternatives based on individual and class actions under tort law, as well as more traditional regulatory approaches developed in the area of consumer products safety and environmental regulation.

Dr. Gandy is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. He is a world-renowned scholar whose work spans many subjects, including privacy, race, information technology, and media.