In a recent debate into the origins of the Data Protection Officer (DPO) role, a LinkedIn comment claiming to be the UK's first DPO in 2007 sparked the curiosity of data protection specialist Jon Baines.
Baines points out that the founding members of the National Association of Data Protection Officers (NADPO) thought it appropriate to create a national association of DPOs in 1993.
However, following a Google Books Advanced Search, the earliest candidate for the UK's first DPO was discovered in the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook of 1979 as "Halstead, J" of Lancaster University. Thus, unless a better candidate emerges, the title of the UK's first DPO has been provisionally bestowed upon J. Halstead.
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