As promised last week, today’s episode provides greater context on US ePrivacy audits, CIPA/VPPA claims, and EU-US comparative law as it affects the rollout or maintenance of MarTech solutions on websites and mobile applications.

References:

* “The slippery slope of consent banners in preventing CIPA and VPPA claims: why effective Opt-Outs will prevail - also in the EU” (Sergio Maldonado, November 2025 - you are listening to Part I of the more comprehensive analysis)

* Jennifer Oliver: privacy litigation over pixels, trackers, and cookies (Masters of Privacy, August 2025)

* From wiretapping and video rentals to website pixels, SDKs, and APIs. CIPA/VPPA litigation, risk management, and practical strategies (Nov 2025 update)

* Toolbox: Fast CIPA/VPPA website auditing and case law matching for legal professionals (Alpha release).

In this live recording (November 6th 2025) we have tackled website protections from pixel-related litigation or public enforcement, paying closer attention to technical measures and the bridge between legal compliance and code-based strategies.

Our repeat guest is Daniel B. Rosenzweig, Founder & Principal Attorney at DBR Tech Law. He advises clients on legal and technical compliance with data privacy and AI laws, and counsels clients on industry mobile app store requirements, AdTech, and privacy-enhancing technologies.

Daniel’s legal practice is unique in that he develops and codes technical solutions to help serve as a bridge between legal, marketing, and technical teams, in addition to providing clients foundational legal services (e.g., conducting risk assessments, drafting disclosures, etc.). He excels at assisting organizations put the law into action by translating complex legal requirements into actionable technical implementations.

Our next live recording session is scheduled for Wednesday January 14th 2026. Find more information on the Events section of the Masters of Privacy website.

References:

* Daniel B. Rosenzweig on LinkedIn

* DBR Tech Law

* From wiretapping and video rentals to website pixels, SDKs, and APIs. CIPA/VPPA litigation, risk management, and practical strategies (Nov 2025 update, Masters of Privacy)

* Daniel Rosenzweig: OK, fingerprinting (Masters of Privacy, February 2025)

* Jennifer Oliver: privacy litigation over pixels, trackers, and cookies

Mélissa M’Raidi-Kechichian is a Research and Advocacy Fellow at the Center for AI and Digital Policy. As an expert in AI policy, frameworks, and regulation, Mélissa has previously worked in the field of AI and digital policy, civic technology, and digital identity, having also held several consulting positions in the private sector and being part of the AI ethics Advisory Panel of the Canadian Digital Governance Council.

Mélissa is also a social entrepreneur and civic tech practitioner working at the intersection of technology, AI regulation, and advocacy. As the founder of Activists Of Tomorrow, they focus on how digital spaces can be used by everyday people to bring meaningful and lasting change to their community. During their free time, Mélissa hosts the Activists of Tech podcast — The Responsible Tech podcast, exploring the intersection of technology and social justice.

With Mélissa we are revisiting Canada after our last interviews on the country’s data protection framework (over four years ago). We are this time reviewing the country’s latest moves in AI policy, and the manner in which privacy or data protection affects AI.

References:

* Mélissa M’Raidi-Kechichian on LinkedIn

* The Activists of Tech podcast — The Responsible Tech podcast

* Center for AI and Digital Policy

* Activists of Tech - The Responsible Tech podcast

* Parliamentary discussion of Bill C27: An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts

* New privacy requirements under Quebec’s Law 25 now in force (IAPP blog)

* Stephan Grynwajc: A lawyer’s take on EU-US data transfers and the Canadian approach (Masters of Privacy, October 2022)

* Derek A. Lackey: A marketer’s take on EU-US data transfers and the Canadian approach (Masters of Privacy, October 2022).

South Africa’s POPIA uniquely protects both individuals and legal entities, a departure from typical data protection laws. We have focused on understanding this unique figure (Will it one day offer key insights into the complexities arising from the increasing use of AI?) before discussing similarities with the GDPR and international data transfers, both within the SADC region and the wider African continent.

Advocate Dirontsho Mohale holds an LLB, postgraduate diplomas in Compliance Management and Senior Management Development Programme from the University of Johannesburg and Regent Business School respectively. She is an Admitted Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, a member and a fellow of the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa - CPrac (SA), International Certified Compliance Practitioner (International Federation of Compliance Associations), is designated Fellow in information Privacy (CIPP/E and CIPM) by the International Association of Privacy Professionals and a FAIS Compliance Officer approved by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. She is also a former non-executive director on the board of the Compliance Institute Southern Africa and chairs the Social, Ethics, Remuneration and Nominations Committee and a board member of the Each One Hold One.

Dirontsho has worked in senior management positions within the financial services sector, locally and internationally, and has over 20 years’ experience as a compliance officer as well as in risk, governance and legal. She has occupied compliance roles in some of South Africa’s major banks and leading insurance companies. Her most recent roles include Senior Compliance Manager for Data Privacy and Corporate Governance at Discovery Group and Executive: POPIA at the Information Regulator SA as well as the role of a data privacy lead for Standard Bank Group after spending some time as the data privacy lead for Standard Bank South Africa.

In her capacity as CEO of Baakedi Professional Practice, she offers governance, risk, legal, ethics and compliance services to organisations including data protection authorities not only within financial services providers, but in general; focusing mostly on data protection and privacy in the SADC region.

References:

* Advocate Dirontsho Mohale on LinkedIn

* Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act) - POPIA

* South Africa: Amendments to the POPIA regulations (Baker & McKenzie)

* SADC: Southern African Development Community

* Data Protection: Kenya and the EU launch very first Adequacy Dialogue on the African continent (May 2024).

California has enacted a sweeping wave of new privacy and AI laws in the past few days. From browsers finally reading opt-out signals to age verification, chatbot companions, data brokers and AI transparency, some of these laws will have a serious impact on the areas we mostly focus on (marketing, advertising, ecommerce, media).

We have discussed AB 566, SB 361, SB 53, AB 1043, AB 656, AB 853, and SB 243 with John Pavolosky, joining us for a second time.

Our guest is a partner at Stoel Rives in San Francisco. He is co-lead of the firm’s Technology Industry Group. He has also been chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the California Lawyers Association.

John has taught Technology Transactions Law at the UC Davis School of Law and Comparative Privacy Law at the Santa Clara University School of Law. John has also guest lectured on technology and privacy law topics at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business; the University of San Francisco School of Management; and Stanford University.

References:

* John Pavolotsky on LinkedIn

* John Pavolotsky at Stoel Rives

* John Pavolotsky: How successful can US privacy laws be at regulating AI models and systems? (Masters of Privacy, June 2025)

* AB 566 (Opt-Out Preference Signal, October 8)

* AB 1043 (Digital Age Assurance Act, October 13)

* SB690, the law that could have done away with most CIPA lawsuits

* SB 361 (Expanded Data Broker Transparency Requirements, October 8)

* AB 56 (Social Media Warning Law, October 13)

* AB 656 (Social Media Account “Delete” Button, October 8)

* SB 243 (Companion Chatbots, October 13)

* Her, a Spike Jonze movie (2013)

* AB 853 (Amendment to the California AI Transparency Act, October 13)

* SB 53 (Transparency in Frontier AI Act, September 29).

Can we ever escape never-ending assessments as a core activity of a privacy management program? How does Privacy Tech extend to AI governance? Does built-in know-how become the most crucial moat?

We are joined by Pádraig O’Leary, co-founder and CEO of TrustWorks, in a new installment of our Privacy Tech series (our sixth). Pádraig (Ph.D.) is a former academic in computer science.

TrustWorks works with Fortune 500 and high-growth clients, helping them discover what AI and data they’re really using, understand the context of regulations and implications, and embed governance into everyday operations.

References:

* Pádraig O’Leary Ph.D. on LinkedIn

* TrustWorks, recipients of the PICASSO most Impactful Privacy Product Award

* Christine Desrosiers (Boltive): Privacy Tech spotlight V - understanding Manipulative Design and rolling out comprehensive client-side monitoring (Masters of Privacy, July 2025)

* Vaibhav Antil (Privado): Privacy Tech spotlight IV - from trust to evidence (Masters of Privacy, July 2025)

* Cillian Kieran (Ethyca): Privacy Tech spotlight III – compliance as an engineering challenge (Masters of Privacy, June 2025)

* Daniel Barber (DataGrail): Privacy Tech spotlight II – widespread non-compliance, opt-out challenges, and shadow AI (Masters of Privacy, May 2025)

* Max Anderson (Ketch): Privacy Tech spotlight I – the future of CMPs, value vs. hype in privacy compliance SaaS (Masters of Privacy, April 2025).

Alexandria (Lexi) Andresen Lutz is founder of the nonprofit Opt-Inspire, Inc., which is focused on empowering seniors, children, other vulnerable populations, and their caregivers to reduce scams and close the digital divide between generations.

In her day job, Lexi serves as Senior Corporate Counsel at a Fortune 500 retail company, where she advises on privacy, cybersecurity, and AI. She currently serves in leadership roles in the American Bar Association and is Chair of the IAPP Boston chapter.

References:

* SIGN UP NOW for the Masters of Privacy NYC LIVE recording and networking event on Nov 6

* Alexandria (Lexi) Lutz on LinkedIn

* Opt Inspire

* FBI: Internet Crime Report 2024

* John Cavanaugh: Privacy as a grassroots movement (Masters of Privacy, June 2024)

* Jeff Jockisch: AI-powered phishing attacks in the age of the Delete Act (Masters of Privacy, October 2023).

Robert Bateman is a Senior Partner at Privacy Partnership, which provides consultancy and training on data protection and AI regulation, as well as legal advice via its associated law firm, Privacy Partnership Law. He also hosts The Privacy Partnership Podcast.

This is Robert’s third appearance on the show. We have covered three hot topics:

* How far do we take watermarking of AI-generated content under article 50 of the AI Act?

* How do pre-defined legitimate interest scenarios work under the UK Data (Use and Access) Act?

* What is the tension between the Online Safety Act and the new data protection framework in the UK?

References:

SIGN UP NOW for the Masters of Privacy NYC LIVE recording and networking event on Nov 6 (if you happen to be in town)

* Robert Bateman on LinkedIn

* Robert Bateman on Bluesky

* The Privacy Partnership Podcast

* AI Act (EU Commission’s resources)

* Data (Use and Access) Act 2025: data protection and privacy changes

* The EU approach to age verification (EU Commission)

* EU follows UK with age verification in 2026 (PPC Land)

* Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act verification rules (BBC)

* Robert Bateman: the EDPB’s Opinion on auditing subprocessors and the future of Meta’s unskippable ads (Masters of Privacy, Nov 2024)

* Robert Bateman: Consent or Pay (Masters of Privacy, Oct 2023)

It is time for a seasonal update at the intersection of Marketing, Data, Privacy and Technology. We will stick to our usual five blocks: ePrivacy & regulatory updates; MarTech & AdTech; AI, Competition and Digital Markets; PETs and Zero-Party Data; Future of Media.

This includes:

* CJEU decisions on Latombe (EU-US data transfers have survived, for now) and SRB (relative nature of personal data)

* UK legal updates and ICO consultations on ePrivacy-related topics

* Record public fines and enforcement actions in California

* Ongoing explosion of pixel and cookie-related lawsuits across the US

* Important fines in the EU, with CNIL’s unwavering passion for large-scale ePrivacy enforcement

* Agentic AI milestones for AdTech and customer centricity/empowerment

* Key initiatives to protect copyright holders from large AI labs (together with Anthropic’s settlement)

All references and links can be found in a separate blog post available to Masters of Privacy Connect subscribers on our website’s Newsroom section.

Our usual disclaimer: the voice that joins me today is a text-to-speech output generated with Eleven Labs.

How can we apply differential privacy to real-world scenarios? How do you go about algorithmic design? Is there a conflict between data minimization and differential privacy? Can you solve for personal data finding its way into machine learning models? Where can a young professional find resources to dive deeper?

References:

* Daniel Simmons-Marengo on LinkedIn

* OpenDP

* Some takeaways from PEPR’24 (USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect 2024)

* Damien Desfontaines: Differential Privacy in Data Clean Rooms (Masters of Privacy, January 2024)

* NIST Guidelines for Evaluating Differential Privacy Guarantees (March 2025)

* Peter Craddock: EDPS v SRB, the relative nature of personal data, processors, transparency, impact on MarTech and AdTech (Masters of Privacy, September 2025)

* Katharine Jarmul: Demystifying Privacy Enhancing Technologies (Masters of Privacy, October 2023)

* Sunny Kang: Machine Learning meets Privacy Enhancing Technologies (Masters of Privacy, February 2023)

* How GDPR changes the rules for research (Gabe Maldoff, IAPP blog, 2016)