Joe Simitian was elected to the California State Senate in November 2004 to represent the 11th State Senate District, which includes parts of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. His public service over the years includes stints as a State Assemblymember, member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Mayor of Palo Alto and President of the Palo Alto School Board. He has also served as an election observer/supervisor in El Salvador and Bosnia, and participated in refugee relief and resettlement efforts in Albania and Kosovo.

In the Senate, Simitian chairs the Environmental Quality Committee and serves as a member of the following committees: Budget and Fiscal Review; Business, Professions and Economic Development; Education; Energy, Utilities and Communications; Environmental Quality; and Transportation and Housing. He is also one of two Democratic members on the Budget Subcommittee on Education.

He also holds a Master of Arts degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, a Master in City Planning degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor law degree from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall).

The California Journal identified Simitian as among those at the "Top of the Class" during his first term in the Legislature. San Jose Magazine has repeatedly recognized him as one of the "Power 100 of Silicon Valley", and in 2003 Simitian was selected by Scientific American magazine as one of the "Scientific American 50" Leaders in Technology from around the world.Senator Simitian and his work have been quoted or noted in publications as diverse as the Atlantic Monthly, Conde Nast Traveller, Mother Jones, People Magazine, and Scientific American. His media appearances range from CNN to the "Dr. Phil Show", from CTV (Canadian Television) to ABC Radio National in Australia.

Simitian brings to his work a unique perspective and background - service at all levels of local government; hands-on experience in the private sector as a public schools attorney, businessman, and certified city planner; a breadth of international interests and experience; as well as professional education and training particularly applicable to his work in the Legislature.

http://www.senatorsimitian.com/

Jim Pyles has practiced health law for nearly 35 years, both with the federal government and in private practice. Mr. Pyles represents hospitals, physicians, psychotherapists, home health agencies, hospices, and companies providing durable medical equipment and infusion therapy in virtually every state and the District of Columbia.

In representing these clients, Mr. Pyles has developed expertise in numerous health law subject areas, including the right to medical privacy and private communications as reflected in the U.S. and many state constitutions as well as federal and state law and traditional standards of medical ethics. As a registered lobbyist, Mr. Pyles has participated directly in issues relating to national health care reform with particular emphasis on medical privacy issues, medical ethics as well as payment and coverage reform.

Deborah is the Executive Director of PrivacyActivism. Her work focuses on consumer education campaigns, advocacy, and analysis of privacy issues, with particular emphasis on data flow, data matching, and privacy risks associated with data collection.

In 2005, Deborah chaired the Association for Computing Machinery's Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP) conference, bringing together attendees not only from government, business, education, and non-profits, but also from the community of computer professionals, hackers, crackers and engineers who work the code of cyberspace.

Deborah is currently a member of the University of Washington's Shidler Center for Law, Commerce and Technology Advisory Committee. She was a committee member of the Washington State Bar Association's Access to Justice, a committee formed to develop more detailed guidelines addressing the issue of the technological impact on privacy within the justice system.

In her previous role as a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, she worked on issues related to electronic privacy, database information collection and personal identity.

www.privacyactivism.org

Tom is the Founder and President of Coughlin Associates and Chairman of the 2007 Data Protection Summit. Tom has over 25 years of experience in the data storage industry as a working engineer and high level technical and corporate executive. For several years he has been collaborating with the Center for Magnetic Recording Research at the University of California, San Diego on the sanitization of disk drive data. In addition to regular technical and market consulting projects he is the publisher of several reports covering technology and applications for digital storage devices and systems including storage components, capital spending, storage technology trends, a series on storage and digital entertainment and a series on system storage. He has 6 patents on magnetic recording and related technologies. Tom is the founder and organizer of the annual Storage Visions Conference (which celebrated its sixth year in 2007). Tom is a senior member and officer of the Santa Clara Valley IEEE, as well as a member of APS, AVS, IDEMA, SNIA, AAAS, and SMPTE.

Emily Andrew was named Acting Chief Privacy Officer for the Postal Service in August 2006. In this role, she is responsible for reinforcing and increasing the value that privacy brings to the U.S. Postal Service's brand.

Emily reports to the Consumer Advocate and Vice President, Consumer Affairs and is responsible for advising the Office of the Postmaster General and senior management on a wide variety of privacy-related issues and initiatives. She manages the development and implementation of privacy policies and processes including the organization's compliance with the Privacy Act and regulations, research of global privacy trends in government and industry; and the integration of privacy features into all Postal Service products, programs and services. She also chairs the USPS Privacy Board made up of key Postal Service executives.

Emily Andrew has led the privacy program's team since 2003 and has a strong professional background in operations, consumer affairs, and marketing. Other responsibilities include the oversight, coordination, development and implementation of corporate policies, records management, technologies, and other initiatives that increase customer loyalty, satisfaction, and ultimately, trust in the Postal Service. Emily manages a staff of technical, professional and administrative employees as well as industry consultants supporting this function. She provides communications, training, and other outreach to internal and external audiences on USPS commitment to customers and privacy. Emily also served as Acting Chief Privacy Officer in the summer and fall of 2005. In this capacity, she managed the privacy effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Emily is a certified International Association of Privacy Professionals/Government (IAPP/G) member and a member of the Responsible Information Management Council (RIM).

James M. Jordan is the former Chief Privacy Leader and Senior Counsel for E-Commerce & Information Technology of General Electric Company, where he led GE's pioneering initiative to implement Binding Corporate Rules for the transfer of personal data from Europe. His law firm, Jordan Legal Counsel, P.C., serves as co-counsel to Crowell & Moring's Privacy and Data Protection Group, focusing on privacy and personal data protection issues. He teams with lawyers from the firm's European offices to assist clients in complying with the European Union Data Protection Directive, ePrivacy Directive and eCommerce Directive, implementation of global privacy programs, and cross-border transfers of personal data pertaining to employees, customers and suppliers. He also advises clients on compliance with U.S. laws pertaining to privacy, electronic marketing and e-commerce, including the FTC Act, CANSPAM Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Privacy Act of 1974, and state identity theft and security breach disclosure laws.

David M. Smith a former Naval Officer and current high level employee of Delta Airlines found out in 1998 that he was a victim of criminal ID theft when a felon with many outstanding warrants used David's good name to commit crimes. David was arrested and treated like a criminal and spent hundreds of hours trying to clear his name. He thought all was finally over untuil December 2006 when he was again arrested for crimes his impostor committed. Listen to this outrageous story of this hero who refuses to be defteated.

Professor Gene Tsudik is the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the University of California , Irvine in the Department of Computer Science. He was chosen as a Fullbright Scholar to teach and do research in Rome in the Spring of 2007 concerning computer privacy issues.

Marc-Aurele Racicot is a member of the Quebec Bar and is presently a staff lawyer with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Access and Privacy Administrators (CAPAPA) and of the Association sur l'acces a l'information et la protection de l'information (AAPI). He is currently a graduate student in the LLM Program at the Law Faculty, University of Alberta. His research centres on the open courts principle and access to information and protection of privacy.

Mr. Racicot is co-author of the works Federal Access to Information and Privacy Legislation Annotated and Protection of Privacy in the Canadian Private Sector published by Thomson-Carswell. In 2003, Mr. Racicot began his work with the Faculty of Extension - University of Alberta Information Access and Protection of Privacy (IAPP) Certificate Program when he wrote two modules for the course Access in a Liberal Democracy. As part of a secondment, Mr. Racicot is entering his third year as Assistant Adjunct Professor and Manager of the IAPP Certificate Program. All IAPP Certificate Program courses are now offered in French and English.

Alisa McDermott is a Colorado resident, Insurance Broker, and mother of 4 children, with 2 living still at home. She is President of the local Business Association, and a member of many local clubs and organizations. She has been a positive contributing member of her community.

In the year 2000 she found out she was the victim of identity theft and what this would mean for her and her family. Her nightmare has lasted for six years - she is still trying to clear her name and credit from the horrible scene of Identity Theft.