My Privacy Heroes

I haven't written in a while, so please forgive me. Privacy issues remain daily headliners and I have no excuse for not writing. First, last week, I was at the International Association of privacy Professionals' Global Summit. It was sold out, which I think means a total of 3000 people attended. Wow.

I know, right? 3000 people from around the globe care about privacy. Yes, we are all dorks. But we're really cool dorks and have our own set of heroes and villains. Some of my own personal privacy heroes are listed below.

Dan Solove, John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. He is a Senior Policy Advisor at Hogan Lovells. He is also the founder of TeachPrivacy, a company that provides privacy and data security training programs to businesses, schools, healthcare institutions, and other organizations. I had the privilege of getting to know Dan a little over the past two years and still have that little piece inside me that still squeals like a little girl simply because my privacy hero talks to me. The IAPP did a little blurb on me once (the link only works for those who log into IAPP, sorry) and soon thereafter, Dan sent me an email. Please understand that at the time, I probably had 5 articles and three books of his sitting on my desk. So I did a little happy dance before I calmly replied to him. I am happy to say that we have maintained a friendly relationship and I hope - I pray - to one day be on his level of competency.

Kirk Nahra a partner with Wiley Rein, LLC. Kirk has been involved with IAPP, I think since its inception. He has been on the IAPP's Board of Directors several times and currently serves as editor of the publications. I do not remember if I met him at a Blue Cross forum in Colorado or at an IAPP event, but either way, we seem to cross paths often, just not often enough. He sends out privacy law updates and observations - and frankly, is simply my most favorite U.S. privacy attorney.

Cass Sunstein is currently a professor at Harvard Law School and is a scholar beyond reproach. This is the only privacy hero I have that I do not know personally and have not met. I was supposed to hear him last year at a conference that my travel was cancelled due to weather. Oddly, I know more of him through my PhD program in Public Affairs than I do my privacy work. I would probably give my right kidney to talk with him for a hour or so (my right kidney is pretty shot, so that might not be a high enough payment).

So there is my list of heroes. I am not currently providing a list of villains, but let's just agree that most of them are corporate level, not individuals.