A new role has been created to help protect Bermudians’ privacy rights.

Alexander White, a lawyer from the United States, has been appointed the first privacy commissioner from January 20.

Mr White will be tasked with implementing the Personal Information Protection Act, which passed three years ago and upholds personal information rights in electronic and hard-copy form, by all businesses, organisations, charities and government departments.

He said: “Drawing upon my experience in the insurance and public sectors, I will work to ensure that Bermudians understand their privacy rights and remain in control of their own data.

“Bermuda has a strong global reputation as the world’s risk capital. Thanks to the country’s unique history and geography, we have an opportunity to extend that reputation to cyber-risk and build a framework of mid-Atlantic privacy that shows how to maintain the highest standards of data protection facilitating a thriving and prosperous business environment.”

John Rankin, the Governor, who announced the appointment today, said: “Mr White is eminently qualified for the job.

“The post of Privacy Commissioner is an important one for Bermuda. Mr White will bring his legal background together with his extensive knowledge and understanding of privacy framework implementation to the island which will set the pace and tone for privacy in Bermuda.”

Mr White’s will be responsible for setting up the Privacy Commissioner’s Office, hiring and training staff, undertaking investigations, providing reports and developing public awareness on the rights of individuals and obligations of organisations under the Act.

Mr Rankin said the establishment of the role will ensure Bermuda meets the international privacy requirements.

Mr White was the deputy chief privacy officer for the South Carolina Enterprise Privacy Office in Columbia, South Carolina.

Mr Rankin said he played a key role in establishing statewide privacy standards and practices.

He also worked at First Nonprofit Group, an AmTrust Financial Company, in Chicago, and is a certified information privacy professional in the US, Canada, Asia and the European Union.