Douwe Korff (born 17 April 1951, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

) has been professor of international law at

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

since 2002. He is a Dutch comparative and international lawyer, specialising in

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and

data protection Data protection may refer to: * Information privacy, also known as data privacy * Data security {{Authority control ...

. In the 1970s, he graduated from the Free University in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and was researcher at the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral research-intensive university and an intergovernmental organisation with juridical personality, established by its founding member states to contribu ...

in Florence, Italy. In the 1980s, he carried out human rights research at the

Max Planck Institutes The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

for comparative and international criminal law and for comparative and international public law in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, Germany. In the 1990s, he taught international law and human rights at

Maastricht University Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; ) is a public university, public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen List of universities in the Netherlands, Dutch universities. In ...

in the Netherlands, and the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

, UK. In 2006, he was visiting professor at the Law faculty of the

University of Rijeka The University of Rijeka () is in the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with faculties in cities throughout the regions of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Primorje, Istria and Lika. The University of Rijeka is composed of eleven faculties, one art academy ...

, Croatia. In the last ten years, he has carried out four major studies for the European Union's Directorate-General on the Internal Market, relating to the implementation of EC Directives harmonising data protection law in the EU and the EEA, and was involved in two studies for the

Information Commissioner's Office The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is the independent regu ...

. He has been cited as an expert in discussion of data protection policy. He is a member of the advisory council of the

Foundation for Information Policy Research The Foundation for Information Policy Research is a UK-based think tank that studies the interaction between information technology and government, business and civil society. It has been described by academics as "the leading think-tank on inform ...

(FIPR), a leading UK think-tank on IT policy. Since June 2013 he has been involved as a data protection, surveillance and international law expert in relation to mass surveillance disclosed by

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

, including at the German Parliament in 2014. Similar expert evidence was given by Professor Korff on 8 April 2014 at the hearing of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on mass surveillance, with Dr Hansjoerg Geiger, former head of the German Secret Service, the BND, and Edward Snowden (by videolink), where Snowden answered in particular two questions Professor Korff had drafted for the PACE Rapporteur on the issue, Pieter Omtzigt, on data mining by the NSA and on spying by the NSA and GCHQ on Amnesty International,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and other human rights organisations. Professor Korff also provided expert evidence on the privacy and human rights implications of the

disclosures in the following political fora: - Strasbourg, 28 January 2014 (European Data Protection Day). Professor Korff gave expert evidence (with

Jacob Appelbaum Jacob Appelbaum (born April 1, 1983) is an American independent journalist, computer security researcher, artist, Hacking (innovation), hacker and teacher. Appelbaum, who earned his PhD from the Eindhoven University of Technology, first became not ...

and Christian Grothoff) at a side event to the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the theme of “After Snowden: using law and technology to counter snooping” - Strasbourg, 18 October 2013: Expert presentation at the 30th plenary of the Consultative Committee of the Council of Europe Convention on Data Protection, of a report he wrote entitled 'Report on The Use of the Internet and Related Services, Private Life & Data Protection: trends & technologies, threats & implications' - Brussels, 14 October 2013: Expert presentation at the inquiry of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee into

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primar ...

mass surveillance which was recorded by video

References

External links

Korff's University web pageCurriculum Vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korff, Douwe 1951 births Living people Lawyers from Amsterdam Academics of London Metropolitan University Academic staff of Maastricht University Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni