The Privacy Advisor Podcast

Anu Talus was elected Chair of the European Data Protection Board in May of 2023. The EDPB, which was established in 2018, ensures that the EU General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive are consistently applied in the EU. It also provides general GDPR guidance, adopts findings to ensure the GDPR is implemented consistently across member nations, advises the European Commission on data protection matters, and encourages DPAs to work together.    In other words, leading the EDPB is no small task, especially in an increasingly complex digital marketplace during the dawn of the AI Era. While here in Brussels, IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy sat down with Chair Talus during an especially significant week in EU data protection on the eve of the release of the EU's Digital Omnibus package, which proposes to amend parts of the GDPR and other EU digital regulations.    In this wide-ranging conversation, Bracy and Talus discuss the EDPB's priorities and work in these transformative times. 

As artificial intelligence continues to coalesce in the modern economy, AI governance only grows in significance. Brenda Leong, director of ZwillGen's AI division, and Andrew Burt, CEO of Luminos, have long been on the front lines of AI's emergence and busy helping organizations navigate this space.    In a first for The Privacy Advisor Podcast, we're featuring a guest host, my colleague Alex LaCasse, a staff writer here for the IAPP. LaCasse has been covering compliance technology for the IAPP in recent years and recently caught up with Leong and Burt to learn more about their work in AI governance and the strategies and tools they leverage to help companies maintain customer trust. 

On 4 Sept., the Court of Justice of the European Union gave its highly anticipated decision in the EDPS v. SRB case. In its landmark ruling, the CJEU clarified the definition of personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and, in essence, the scope of EU data protection law. For Ulrich Baumgartner, a partner at Baumgartner Baumann and IAPP Country Leader for the DACH region, the ruling demonstrates a continued "relative approach" by the court, but it also provides a significant clarification against what he believes has been an "absolutist" approach by the European Data Protection Supervisor and other EU data protection authorities. Though the ruling provides important clarity for personal data, pseudonymity and anonymity, it also raises other questions. Either way, there are concrete takeaways for data protection professionals. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy recently caught up with Baumgartner to discuss the implications of the ruling, including what it can mean for the Data Act, data processing agreements and more. 

Ruby Zefo has long been a leader in the fields of privacy, data protection and cybersecurity. She was the first chief privacy officer at Uber, where she served from 2018, helping lead the company's efforts to protect and enable user data. She has done so while Uber continues to innovate its technology amid a dramatic increase in digital laws around the world. Earlier this year, Zefo announced her retirement from Uber and her next move as a fellow at Stanford University's Distinguished Careers Institute. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy caught up with Zefo to discuss her work building a privacy team at Uber and how she has navigated—and led—in an increasingly complex and challenging world.

Nearly a year ago, the IAPP expanded its mission in response to a rapidly changing digital environment to include AI governance, digital responsibility and cybersecurity law. The mission expansion took place a year after the IAPP hired Ashley Casovan to lead its first-ever AI Governance Center. Since then, Casovan has led the development of the center, which includes work helping to inform AI governance training and certification, a forthcoming AI governance textbook, and the AI Governance Global conferences.    Casovan came to the IAPP after leading the Responsible AI Institute as its executive director and previously worked for the Canadian government as director of data architecture and innovation.    She's currently drafting a skills competency framework for AI governance.    Situated in Montreal, Casovan trekked south to spend time at IAPP headquarters in Portsmouth, NH. While here, she and IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy discussed the makings of an AI governance professional. What skills are required and what is she seeing in this evolving profession? Here's what she had to say. 

As the privacy profession surpasses the quarter-century mark and enters into a brave new world of artificial intelligence and digital entropy, it's worth taking a look back to assess how far the profession has come. That's exactly what long-time privacy pro Stephen Bolinger embarked upon when he decided to film a documentary on the rise of the privacy profession. "Privacy People" explores the veritable plethora of interpretations of the privacy concept through the voices of some of the profession's most seasoned and respected privacy leaders. Bolinger said he felt there was a really compelling story to tell. By juxtaposing on-the-street interviews with individuals to sit down discussions with some of privacy's luminaries in government, industry, civil society and academia, "Privacy People" looks at how this dynamic profession has grown and changed over the years, as well as recognizing the prominent role women have played throughout its evolution. Earlier this year, IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy sat down with Bolinger to discuss the impetus for his documentary and how he went about filming "Privacy People."

As chief privacy officer of the biggest city in the United States, it's safe to say that Michael Fitzpatrick doesn't have your normal, run-of-the-mill job. As part of New York's Office of Technology and Innovation, the Office of Information Privacy provides guidance to more than 175 agency privacy officers across the city. It also works closely with the city's Cyber Command and has partnered with the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights and the Biometrics Institute. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy caught up with Fitzpatrick to learn more about his work as CPO of New York City, how his office works across government and what he sees as some of the biggest challenges in privacy and cybersecurity.

Autonomous robots with embedded artificial intelligence are growing more common across industry sectors. So-called "embodied AI," collects vast amounts of data through its sensors and changes how humans interact with technology. As embodied AI becomes more common and continues to drive innovation, it also creates new challenges for ethical uses of data and personal privacy. Erin Relford is a privacy engineer at Google and has worked in the embodied AI space. In a recent article for the IAPP, she wrote that "existing privacy mitigations may be insufficient for human-robot interactions." That's why she helped create a robotics privacy framework to "promote privacy-preserving design" in the "responsible deployment of robotics with embedded AI. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy caught up with Erin to discuss her work in this vanguard space.

Privacy law and technological advancements have a deep and intertwined history that go back to at least the 1890s with Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis's article "The Right to Privacy," which was prompted by camera technology. George Washington University Law Professor Dan Solove has long studied and written about privacy law. He published several well-known books including "Nothing to Hide: The False Trade Off Between Privacy and Security" and co-authored "Privacy Law Fundamentals," which is published by the IAPP. Solove recently published a new book, "On Privacy and Technology." IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy caught up with Solove just before the book was published to discuss it and whether the regulation-versus-innovation trade-off is a fallacy, why the notice-and-choice paradigm hasn't worked for consumers, and where the future will take privacy, AI, and cybersecurity law and regulation.

Australia made waves in 2024 after it passed an amendment to the Online Safety Act of 2021, which introduces a legal minimum age of 16 to create and use an account for certain social media platforms in Australia. It also requires platforms within scope to implement age-gating practices. As Australia's first eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, whose agency administers the Online Safety Act and the Social Media Minimum Age amendment, has been at the forefront of regulating online safety since her appointment in 2017. With a background in the private sector, including stints at Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe, Inman-Grant has a wide-ranging view of the online space and the harms within it. IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy recently caught up with Commissioner Inman-Grant to discuss her work in online safety, what's currently underway regarding age-gating requirements for social media and the effects AI will have for online safety and harms.

Though it came close in recent years, federal privacy legislation is not likely top of mind as a new administration takes the reigns in Washington, DC. The same likely goes for federal AI governance and safety legislation with a divided Congress and executive branch that promotes a deregulatory posture. That means state-level privacy and AI bills will proliferate in 2025. Connecticut was the 5th U.S. state to a pass comprehensive privacy law, and Connecticut State Senator James Maroney played a large role in crafting his state's bill. Maroney is now working on AI legislation and takes part in the Future of Privacy Forum's Multistate AI Policymaker Working Group, which comprises more than 200 bipartisan state lawmakers and other government officials, with the aim to "foster a shared understanding of emerging technologies and related policy issues." IAPP Editorial Director Jedidiah Bracy recently caught up with Maroney to discuss his work on privacy, his experience working with other policymakers in the multistate working group, and what to expect from AI legislation in Connecticut this coming year. 

It's hard to believe we've reached the final weeks of 2024, a year filled with policy and legal developments across the map. From the continued emergence of AI governance, to location privacy enforcement, children's online safety to novel forms of privacy litigation, no doubt this was a year that kept privacy and AI governance pros very busy. One such professional in the space is Goodwin Partner Omer Tene. He's been immersed in many of these thorny issues, and as always, has thoughts about what's transpired in 2024 and what that means for the year ahead. I caught up with Tene to discuss the year in digital policy. Here's what he had to say.