Expert-driven effort to define data privacy standards
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — February 2, 2022. Today, The Ethical Tech Project, a multidisciplinary coalition that builds standards for an ethical internet with privacy at its core, announced the launch of its Privacy Advisory Board.
In response to growing concerns about the ways in which Big Tech manages user data and privacy, the Board will outline the privacy steps every user and consumer should expect as part of their sovereign data dignity. The Board’s goal is to develop a set of standards that are responsive to existing rules and regulations and offer engineers the specific tools, patterns, and frameworks for privacy-by-design. The Ethical Tech Project is composed of leaders at the highest levels of business, academia, and policy who are dedicated to creating the infrastructure for ethical technology that enshrines data dignity as a core operational tenet of the next generation of the internet.
“Technology holds the promise to bring people and communities together, but we can only realize that promise if we develop a framework for engineers to implement privacy as part of the programmatic infrastructure of their products,” said Tom Chavez, chair of The Ethical Tech Project.
“With specific tools and patterns for data dignity, the ethics of privacy will be built-in and people can embrace their digital lives with confidence that they will be treated with safety and dignity. We’re out to show that there’s a better way – a world in which tech companies can do good and do well.”
The Privacy Board’s members will include a range of key tech, academic, and policy figures.
The founding members announced today include:
- Tom Chavez (CEO, Ketch), acting as the chair of the Privacy Advisory Board
- Jesper Andersen (CEO, Infoblox)
- Jennie Baird (EVP and Managing Director, Digital News and Streaming, BBC Studios, BBC)
- Darrin Bassin (Executive Vice President & General Counsel, ViacomCBS)
- Alysa Hutnik (Partner, Kelley Drye & Warren)
- Maritza Johnson (Executive Director of the Center for Digital Civil Society, University of San Diego)
- Travis May (Co-Founder and President, Datavant)
- James Mickens (Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University)
- Jessica Rich (Of Counsel, Kelley Drye & Warren)
Last week, three founding board members -- Chavez, Andersen, and Johnson -- began laying out a vision of the path toward data dignity in an article written for Fortune.
About The Ethical Tech Project:
The Ethical Tech Project is a multidisciplinary coalition building standards for technology to champion fairness and data dignity. Our vision is an ethical internet where tech supports human flourishing. We seek to create the infrastructure for ethics in technology by convening a diverse community, defining standards and a shared parlance, and advocating for broad adoption.
