ABSTRACT: As 2017 begins, are we entering a time of crisis or a time of opportunity for individual privacy?  Law enforcement demands for consumer data continue to grow and surveillance by intelligence agencies continues to drive civil liberties debates.  Online tracking for analytics and advertising has been extended to mobile devices, to interactive television and to smart home devices.  Social media sharing has achieved near ubiquity, with services integrating location, facial recognition, and live video sharing.  With connected cars, our motor vehicles become data collectors and with drones our public spaces can be more easily monitored.  Big data strains against fair information practices of consent, limited purpose and data minimization.  Algorithmic decision making and machine learning wreak havoc with efforts to provide transparency.  Artificial Intelligence may leave us unsure who will even be accountable for data driven determinations.

But yet, the very stress on privacy created by these advances could create opportunities for progress. Academic-industry cooperation can be a competitive advantage in working on issues that cross borders and span continents, even as new governmental roles are shaped and defined.  Based on his experience working with more than 130 senior privacy officers at companies, as well as with leading academics and privacy advocates, Jules will discuss some expectations of privacy and data management in the coming months and years, including a review of current areas of privacy developments around a variety of industries and technologies.  He will also examine opportunities to ensure data is available in a trusted manner for evidence based policymaking.

Jules Polonetsky serves as CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a non-profit organization that serves as a catalyst for privacy leadership and scholarship, advancing principled data practices in support of emerging technologies. FPF is supported by the chief privacy officers of more than 110 leading companies, several foundations, as well as by an advisory board comprised of the country’s leading academics and advocates. FPF’s current projects focus on Big Data, Mobile, Location, Apps, the Internet of Things, Wearables, De-Identification, Connected Cars and Student Privacy.

Jules previous roles have included serving as Chief Privacy Officer at AOL and before that at DoubleClick, as Consumer Affairs Commissioner for New York City, as an elected New York State Legislator and as a congressional staffer, and as an attorney.

Jules serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Copyright Information. He has served on the boards of a number of privacy and consumer protection organizations including TRUSTe, the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and the Network Advertising Initiative. From 2011-2012, Jules served on the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee.

In 2001, Crain’s NY Business magazine named Jules one of the top technology leaders in New York City.

Jules is a regular speaker at privacy and technology events and has testified or presented before Congressional committees and the Federal Trade Commission.

His writing and research can be found on Google Scholar and SSRN.