Katharine Tomko: Privacy is a Fundamental Human Right

Update: 2024-05-14

Description

In this episode of The Privacy Insider Podcast, host Arlo Gilbert is joined by Katharine Tomko, Partner at First Ascent Ventures, who was the first Head of Privacy Programs at Facebook. They explore the evolving landscape of privacy in the digital space and digital privacy as an extension of fundamental privacy rights throughout history. Hear how Katharine’s experiences growing up sparked her passion for data privacy and her continued focus on it as a venture capital investor.

Katharine is a leader in privacy technology and enterprise software. In addition to her privacy work at Facebook, she is recognized as a leading expert in data privacy and protection. As a partner at First Ascent Ventures, Katharine leverages her expertise to support emerging technologies that aim to transform data privacy and security.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, instructions on how to do this are here.

Quotes:

“I ultimately left Facebook and thought, OK, I want to get into venture capital at an earlier stage because potentially now I have a little bit more influence of saying, Hey, startups, you need to be thoughtful about your privacy and data strategy early.”
“When I speak to start-ups about privacy, I don't think they fully internalize it. I think a lot of people assume we will hire a privacy professional, and they will just figure it out. They'll just make sure that we adhere to our privacy policy but don't fully internalize it. Hey, it's HR. It's recruiting. It's your front-end and back-end code developers.”
“My journey into specializing in privacy and data protection stems from this profound understanding of the far-reaching consequences of privacy erosion on individuals, societies, and innovation.”
“I think people also need to internalize. Informers are no longer sitting in bars, listening in on you like they're no longer on the street. We have much more sophisticated digital informers. Literally, everything you are putting online could potentially be misconstrued.”
“I absolutely believe that privacy is a fundamental human right.”

Episode Resources: