MISSION

The Cross-Border Data Forum (CBDF) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit group that addresses international data transfer policy issues. The mission of the CBDF is to provide a forum for well-researched and well-written discussion of cross-border data issues. The CBDF does not engage in lobbying.

Any statements made or positions taken in articles published on this website or other statements made or positions taken by third parties that appear on this website are independently written and those of the author only. Publication on this website does not represent agreement with those statements or positions by the Cross Border Data Forum or by any participating individuals or organizations.

The Cross-Border Data Forum (CBDF) works to promote and achieve four goals:

Fulfill legitimate government requests for content, associated meta-data, and user-identifying information, notably for law enforcement and national security purposes.

Protect and promote privacy, cybersecurity, human rights, and democracy as essential to new legal approaches and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of communications and other sensitive personal data.

Provide a workable regime for private-sector actors that process data from multiple jurisdictions. Efforts to promote national or supranational data sovereignty should address conflicts of law and other issues that arise when multiple governments claim jurisdiction over user data and private-sector actors and their services.

Facilitate robust cross-border flows of data in order to further the purposes listed in Goal 2 and other relevant purposes such as economic growth and the appropriate development of artificial intelligence.

The CBDF, founded in 2018, advances its mission through the publication of scholarship and promotion of dialogue regarding the design, implementation, and reform of legal regimes that impact cross-border transfers. Much of its work has addressed issues concerning government access to data for law enforcement and national security purposes. Other topics include: analysis of conflicts of law issues arising from national and supranational measures that impact cross-border data transfers (including digital and AI sovereignty, cybersecurity, and encryption); and the intersection of cross-border data transfers, privacy and national security. The CBDF addresses these and related topics as they arise in regions and countries throughout the world.

If you would like to publish an article on the CBDF Blog, please send a draft to submissions@crossborderdataforum.org.