Who are they?
BBC Platform is the delivery point for the complex eco-system of products and content created by the broadcaster. The operation privacy team has been at the centre of this digital transformation to ensure it is ready for GDPR and beyond.
What do they do?
A team of just three, none of them from a digital or technical background and all new joiners in the last year, had to ensure the GDPR programme was given an accelerated start. This included the need to bring together teams covering legal, marketing, product management, architecture, development and UX, as well as directors and C-level and also editorial.
Their role was to be subject matter experts on GDPR, ensuring the latest information releases from the Information Commissioner’s Officer, as well as industry updates and digital developments, were absorbed and communicated. Adopting privacy by design, they have kept audience-facing messages about privacy and data relevant and up-to-date. This has required the team to own seven separate work streams across the BBC GDPR working group, alongside challenging technical issues such as ethics in machine learning and artificial intelligence, children’s rights, cookies and mobile tracking. Through their efforts, they have established an identity for data protection and privacy across the BBC.
What did the judges say?
GDPR is a big challenge for any organisation, but for a team of three to have given such leadership somewhere as complex as the BBC is extraordinary. They deserve the utmost respect and recognition for maintaining the trusted position of the broadcaster by putting privacy first.
