The Privacy Advisor Podcast

There's no shortage of tech companies and apps aiming to help thwart the spread of COVID-19, in addition to government efforts. But with so many different apps being deployed and so much sensitive data being swept up, is this one of those moments in time that we're putting safety ahead of privacy in ways that can't be undone? In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, the Future of Privacy Forum's Polly Sanderson and the International Digital Accountability Council's Quentin Palfrey discuss both the apps themselves as well as the greater ecosystem surrounding contact tracing.

Recently, Jay Edelson and his team at Edelson PC have filed three different class-action lawsuits related to unwanted surveillance: One against security company ADT, one against a Chicago hospital and another against biometric start-up Clearview AI. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Edelson talks about why he chose to file the suits and why he thinks they're important cases for privacy rights generally. He also talks about the status of his firm's historic settlement with Facebook over violations of Illinois biometric privacy law.

When the world was turned upside down with the COVID-19 pandemic and then the murder of George Floyd in the U.S., any momentum we'd started to see on passing a federal privacy bill was lost — at least temporarily. But Cam Kerry is aiming to change that by re-igniting bi-partisan conversations with a report proposing how we might overcome the impasse we've found ourselves at in two crucial areas: federal pre-emption and a private right of action. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Kerry discusses how to bridge the divide.

There is so much privacy news related to the pandemic lately that it sometimes feels like that's the only news. But the world continues to spin, if more quietly, as most of its population works from the comfort of their homes. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Angelique Carson chats with Brussels-based freelance journalist Jennifer Baker about two government data breaches, the latest on activist Max Schrems and his complaints, as well as recent criticisms on the level of DPA enforcement now that the GDPR has turned two.

Especially now, while most of us are stuck indoors hiding from the invisible monster that is the COVID-19 disease, it's not difficult to imagine better days — days when we can safely travel again to faraway islands with blue-glass waters and sandy beaches. Or, you could do what Alex White did and move there. The former deputy chief privacy officer of South Carolina didn't move to the island for a vacation, though. He took the job as the country's first-ever privacy commissioner, a position created with the passage of Bermuda's privacy law in 2016. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, White talks to host Angelique Carson, CIPP/US, about the challenges of starting up a new office — especially in the midst of a global pandemic — and why he thinks privacy professionals should think of themselves as, of all things, GPS devices.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation ushered in an enhanced private right of action for violations of the law, both for material and non-material damages. Attorneys say there's now a significant uptick in cases brought alleging such a grievance has occurred, and that they're often brought as a "follow-on" to data protection authorities' own investigations. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Orrick attorneys Keily Blair and James Lloyd, both based in the U.K., describe the uptick in civil litigation claims they're seeing and the ways that's changing things — including how companies interact with data protection authorities.

It's a troubling and weird time to be alive. The headline are dominated by reports of mass death and despair globally, and we're all trapped at home trying to cope with a very new and very difficult reality. In a time like this, it can feel hard to find meaning in the day-to-day work of being a privacy professional. In this fireside-chat style podcast, IAPP Editor Angelique Carson, CIPP/US, talks with three DC-based privacy professionals -- who happen to also be three of her best friends -- about how they're coping and staying focused on their individual missions.

Telecommunications companies across the world, including in Germany, Brazil and China have granted their governments access to customers' cellphone data in an effort to help track the COVID-19. Other countries are more cautious; the Dutch DPA called for emergency legislation before sharing occurs, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said a flat no, for now. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Heather Federman, vice president of privacy and policy at BigID, discusses the potential longterm implications of location data agreements and the role privacy officers should play in board room discussions on sharing customer data.

It's a scary time by any standard. There's news every day about the latest number of those infected by an invisible danger that'll make some sick and kill others and to stay safe we have to stay away from each other in a time when we most need each other for support. And when we're scared, sometimes we make decisions based on fear. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, Michelle De Mooy of DeMOOY Consulting and former director of privacy and data at the Center for Democracy and Technology, talks about the data privacy concerns related to private-public entities partnering up to address the health crises COVID-19 has presented.

If there's anyone we could call an expert on data protection in the EU, it's Christian D'Cunha. Years back, he was charged with leading the review of the EU Data Retention Directive — no easy task — before he moved to a role at the European Data Protection Supervisor's office as a policy assistant under former EDPS Peter Hustinx and then, his successor, the late Giovanni Buttarelli. Now, D'Cunha has taken a role at the European Commission at DG Connect, a segment of the Cybersecurity and Digital Privacy Unit. In this episode of The Privacy Advisor Podcast, D'Cunha discusses what he learned about the art of negotiation during his leadership role on the Directive, the future of ethics in the privacy profession and whether we're ever going to see that ePrivacy Regulation come to fruition.