I’m pleased to debut a new cartoon, The Privacy Compliance Easy Button. This cartoon captures the value and power of data minimization. Data minimization should be a principle that is applied throughout the entire life cycle of personal information, and data shouldn’t be retained when there is no longer a purpose for keeping it. * […]
Originally posted on Substack Design is key to privacy. In the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mandates data protection by design and default. Other laws are starting to require privacy or data protection by design. Why is design so important to privacy? As I wrote in On Privacy and Technology (2025), the “design of software, […]
Originally posted on Substack Starting in 2018, the U.S. states have been passing consumer privacy laws. Roughly half the states have now passed these laws. While there was promise earlier on that these laws might improve privacy protection in the U.S., the verdict is now becoming clear—the laws are overall quite poor. I’d give most […]
Originally Posted on Substack “We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now.” These lines are from E.M. Forster’s prescient story, “The Machine Stops” from 1909. Dystopian fiction has long warned us about the future, and we’re witnessing dire warnings from last century come true today. Forster’s […]
Originally Posted on Substack I’ve long enjoyed collecting ads that attempt to market privacy. Here are some of the highlights of my collection. Please be sure to read to the end, as there are many great video ads, which find ways to tell stories and make arguments for privacy that resonate with the public.
Originally posted on Substack I’ve long found fiction to be one of the most fruitful ways to explore technology. This essay series grows out of my love for the humanities—as a consumer and creator. SPOILER ALERT: My discussion involves spoilers, so consider yourself warned.
Originally posted on Substack In the early days, there was barely a playbook for privacy governance, and privacy professionals had to make it up as they went along. Today, there is a wealth of wisdom, and it’s being applied to the emerging area of AI. I’ve been following privacy books for many years, and I’ve […]
Originally posted on Substack We’re increasingly bringing surveillance upon ourselves with the devices we use. These devices are gathering an enormous amount of our data, and this information is readily available for the government to access. Professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson tackles the implications of these developments in his new book, Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing […]
Originally posted on Substack FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Originally posted on Substack Unlike 160+ countries, unlike almost every industrialized nation, the U.S. has been an outlier because it lacks a comprehensive privacy law. Congress has been trying repeatedly to pass one, without luck, an effort that has faltered because such a law involves many complicated issues that require thoughtfulness and compromise, which don’t […]