The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has published a report titled The Role of Individuals in the Data Ecosystem. The report is a comprehensive catalog of issues related to data rights and data protection for individuals. Notably, it concludes that "most of this regulation is limited to specific sectors or geographies and creates a complexity that is precarious for individuals and burdensome for businesses and government oversight. There is clear value in creating a foundation of data protection that extends across all entities and individuals in the U.S. and borrows from the possible lessons that current laws have taught us."

In this episode, Jody Westby and Jerry Buckley interview the report’s author, Kaitlin Asrow. The report offers a potential national legal framework for data governance, but also suggests the need for a significant rethinking of the ways in which we approach the legal structure for individual data protection. The report and our discussion with Kaitlin are a must hear for anyone seriously interested in understanding the way forward in privacy and data protection policy.