Will we do conferences again?

Do people think that we'll actually go "back" to having business conferences again? How long will that take? It’s interesting to wonder whether the conference business is irreparably harmed by this or whether it comes roaring back once there’s some kind of all-clear. Here’s how I’m thinking about it.

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Sam Pfeifle
Why does no one care how creepy colleges are?

Do you have a kid thinking about applying to college? Then maybe you’ve noticed that institutions of higher learning are some of the shadiest users of personal data in any industry. Hey, if you can traffic in valuable data derived from 16 year olds so that you can make lots and lots of $200,000 sales, why wouldn’t you? This has to stop.

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Sam Pfeifle
People, the data transfers to and from the UK will be fine

With Brexit looking to be more and more of a disorganized disaster every day, I’m starting to see those pesky articles about post-Brexit personal data transfers pop up again. As well they should, I suppose. When the U.K. leaves the EU, the law will certainly be different and there will, indeed, be some uncertainty. I know lots of you compliance types hate uncertainty. I get it. But I’m here to tell you it’s not going to be a big deal.

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Sam Pfeifle
Sweden clearly gets consent. When will the U.S.?

With its first GDPR fine, the Swedish DPA ruled a public high school was wrong when it implemented facial recognition technology. But the fine really didn’t have anything to do with facial recognition technology. This is a case about consent - and it’s a case the U.S. could really learn from.

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Sam Pfeifle
What obscurity do we reserve for political donors?

After a Congressman recently published a list of max donors to the Trump campaign, even some respected journalists declared he “went too far” in violating the privacy of ordinary citizens. In this post, I do an ethical balancing test and show how their obscurity does not outweigh their accountability.

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Sam Pfeifle
Words matter - even when discussing "regulator priorities"

We’ve been hearing a lot about “regulator priorities” now that the GDPR has turned 1, and for good reason. They’re important for the marketplace. Which is why it’s pretty frustrating when the ICO asks organizations to go “beyond baseline compliance.” What the heck does that mean? Does it really add clarity?

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Sam Pfeifle
How "data ethics" could actually work. In real life.

Is data ethics really the next big thing in tech? If so, it’s a long-time coming. Following news of yet another technology company - remember RealNetworks? - using uploaded consumer data to train facial recognition technology for dubious profit and social benefit, I walk you though what a data ethics assessment might look like and why organizations have little incentive to avoid a data ethics failure.

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Sam Pfeifle
Where are the ethicists?

Privacy, many people say, is about more than just doing what the law says you must do. Rather, privacy is about trust. Privacy is about going beyond compliance. Privacy is about doing doing what’s “right,” even if the law hasn’t caught up with technology yet. Maybe someone could tell that to the people who actually run companies, like Ever, that tell customers one thing and then do another?

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Sam Pfeifle
How to be "visible" at the Global Privacy Summit

People go to the IAPP Global Privacy Summit — all conferences, really — with a variety of goals. This post is for those folks who are headed to Summit and DC trying to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. Which can be hard when there are effectively 5,000 people in the room. How do you get a little visibility when there is a sea of privacy professionals and you’re not all that big of a fish?

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Sam Pfeifle