Don’t Be Evil: In the Hot Seat of Data Privacy Part 1

Update: 2024-08-16

Description

In this episode of The Privacy Insider Podcast, Keith Enright, the outgoing Chief Privacy Officer at Google, joins host Arlo Gilbert to share what it’s like to be at the privacy helm of one of the world’s most influential–and most watched–companies. Part I of this conversation showcases Keith’s unusual path to privacy and Google, the evolution of privacy under his watch, and where opportunities lie in privacy and technology today.

With over 20 years of experience, Keith was a pioneer in early data privacy who has vast expertise in legal leadership, global privacy strategy, and the intersection of technology innovation and individual rights. As the head of Google's Global Privacy and Consumer Protection functions, Keith has played a role in shaping privacy-forward policy and decisions in the US, the EU, and the rest of the world. Before Google, Keith built and oversaw privacy programs at Macy's/Bloomingdales, Limited Brands, and IBM, and also wrote one of the world’s first data privacy blogs.

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Episode Highlights:

[09:17 ] - Riding the Wave of Legal Innovation
[18:46 ] - What It’s Really Like Running Google’s Privacy Operations
[24:27 ] - Tackling Compliance Chaos and Budgeting Challenging at Scale

Quotes:

“I was obsessed with technology. I was incredibly optimistic about its capacity to make people's lives better, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of that.”
“You can't get into a conversation about tech law without it veering into a discussion of how AI will disrupt legal practice? I think there is a tremendous amount of opportunity for young, ambitious, technically sophisticated lawyers to think about specific businesses that they are interested in or specific problems or things that are fascinating to them and then think about how artificial intelligence and machine learning are going to disrupt those areas and then figure out how to help solve those problems.”
“AI is a massive imperative for the business. One of the things that Google needs to get right for this next chapter is going to be. How do we position ourselves as the most trusted company on Earth as a company that is trying to deliver useful and valuable products and services to its consumer and commercial clients?”
“One of the challenges of being very large and being a leader in the industry, even being widely recognized as having one of the best programs in existence in the world, is that every policymaker around the world is actively watching to see you stumble because calling you out is a really efficient way to send a signal across the entire economy.”
“One of the interesting challenges of operating at this scale is figuring out where your bright lines are. What risks the business is not allowed to take. There are some of your baseline things, keeping users safe, complying with the law, and wherever you take out a legal position, have a credible, defensible position to support the position that you're taking and then have a candid conversation with your leadership to say these areas that might get challenged.”

Episode Resources: