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Debbie Reynolds “The Data Diva” talks to David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-owner & Chief Technology Officer of 37signals (Makers of Basecamp + HEY)We discuss the EU's proposed data transfer framework, which is still in draft form. We talk about how the framework will impact businesses and how privacy is a data issue, not a legal issue. David Heinemeier Hansson is a Danish entrepreneur who has been working with the internet since the mid-90s. He is the co-owner of an American software company, and he is currently in Denmark. In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed the NSA's tapping into global internet cables and wholesale data collection. Heinemeier Hansson was horrified by this and wondered what the European reaction would be. The EU has traditionally had a stronger stance on online privacy than the US, and Heinemeier Hansson wanted to see if that would continue in light of this new information. In the wake of the European Court of Justice's ruling that the Privacy Shield agreement between America and Europe was invalid, privacy activists have been scrambling to figure out how to reform the agreement. 

We discuss his journey into technology and privacy and his strong stance on the challenges that businesses face trying to do transatlantic data transfers, and businesses were left scrambling by changes in privacy regulations between Safe Harbor and Privacy Shield, legal regulations and technology, the responsibility of regulators and businesses, privacy via encryption, small companies, and data risk, reconciling US and European privacy issues in the short term, attempts to provide clarity to business about data transfers, the expense associated with compliance, and his hope for Data Privacy in the future.

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