David, Goliath, and Data Privacy Part I: Max Schrems

Update: 2024-09-10

Description

If you’re in the privacy industry, you know Max Schrems: Renowned privacy rights advocate and the David who took on Facebook’s Goliath to shine a light on the misuse of consumer data. But that’s just one facet of what he does. In this episode, Max talks to Arlo Gilbert about his organization noyb, the often-unglamorous work of protecting privacy rights, and how the Florida educational system kicked off a lifelong passion for privacy.

Max is an Austrian activist, lawyer, and author whose legal challenges alleging privacy law violations in Europe resulted in two landmark judgments (Schrems I and Schrems II) that help protect individuals’ personal data. Today, as the Founder and Chairman of noyb, Max and his team are committed to bridging the gap between privacy laws and corporate practices to strengthen protection of individuals’ personal data.

This is Part I of a two-part series. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; instructions on how to do this are here.

Episode Highlights:

[01:33 ] - How noyb Is Fighting 800 Cases
[07:35 ] - Taking on Tech Giants and Winning
[15:33 ] - The Dark Side of Data Rights
[21:06 ] - Are Cookie Banners a Necessary Evil or Outdated Annoyance?
[29:17 ] - Why Privacy Watchdogs Avoid Taking on Governments
[32:25 ] - How Culture Shock Ignited Max's Fight Against Big Tech

Quotes:

“I'm usually the biggest devil's advocate within the organization to ask people all the evil questions that they don't want to be asked. But it usually also increases the quality of what we do a lot.”
“When it comes to funding and being obviously always the smaller underdog, once you have the quality, I usually tell people that if you look at this David versus Goliath thing, you have to be that David who knows where is the point where it hurts, where is the right angle of attack.”
“I think what is useful for companies is to think more about what my customers actually want, how I can make the journey as easy for people as possible, how not to have more friction, and how not to get in a fight with a customer.”
“The way I look at consent, at least for the European bubble, it's a fundamental right. So you have a right to your data as a fundamental right, like your freedom of speech or your right to bodily integrity.”
“I think privacy, first of all, is a hugely cultural thing. What is private and not is different in different cultures.”