The TV series Andor (2022-2025) is one of the very best depictions of the dimensions of an authoritarian regime and those who resist it. The series is one of my all-time favorites—it is phenomenal in everything, from writing to acting to cinematography.
Andor chronicles the beginnings of the rebellion against the Empire prior to the movie Star Wars Episode IV (1977). It is a prequel to the prequel movie, Rogue I: A Star Wars Story (2016).
“Privacy is dead!” I’ve heard this proclamation countless times. But privacy has been dying for decades . . . and it keeps on dying.
Below is my collection of eulogies for privacy, which shows that we should be skeptical of claims that privacy is dead. If we believe this, then we might give up the fight for privacy, which will let those who want to kill privacy get away with murder.
It’s a perennial debate: Who was more prophetic, George Orwell or Aldous Huxley? I find discussions about this debate to be quite interesting. Read on to find out different perspectives on the issue, including comments by Orwell and Huxley on each others’ works, and my own take.
Orwell and Huxley wrote two of the most influential dystopian novels of all time. Both dystopias involve total control, but they achieve control in different ways. Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four (1949) features an oppressive drab world ruled by an authoritarian government called Big Brother. There is pervasive surveillance, and the government wants to control not just what people say but what they believe. Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) depicts a world where people are controlled by drugs and pleasure. Although everyone is happy, everyone is manipulated and controlled and lives a shallow mindless existence.
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.
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Professor Daniel J. Solove is a law professor at George Washington University Law School. Through his company, TeachPrivacy, he has created the largest library of computer-based privacy and data security training, with more than 180 courses.
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, websites, and electronic devices controls what people can and can’t do, how people behave, how people interact with others, the way people make decisions, how much personal data they disclose, and many other things.”
Over the years, many books and writings have been published that provide useful advice and perspectives on privacy by design. Here are a few great books and writings that every privacy and data protection officer should read, as well as any policymakers who are crafting or enforcing privacy laws.
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 of them Ds or Fs.
When California began the trend in 2018, industry lobbyists sprang into action and descended to states trying to weaken and rewrite their laws. The battle began in Washington, which crafted an anemic law heavily influenced by industry. That law never passed. The fight then shifted to Virginia, where a weak law passed based on a similar recipe. Virginia’s law became a blueprint for many other states, many of which copied and pasted much of it. Even those that didn’t largely followed the same model.
A few years ago, I critiqued the state consumer privacy laws as lacking in imagination: “[W]hile I applaud the sentiment about the states passing privacy laws, I don’t think most really move the needle on privacy.”
“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 story captures many of the current problems with AI and digital technologies.
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.
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.
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 created a free resource that includes information about 500+ privacy books over the last 70+ years.
In this post, I’ll briefly discuss some key books on privacy and AI governance. Each has something unique to offer, and I think they all belong on the bookshelves of all privacy and AI governance professionals.Continue Reading