Just because someone has “privacy” in their title or job description , doesn’t mean they actually believe in privacy or advocate for privacy of users.

I’m seeing this more and more.

2018 brought GDPR, and also a flood of privacy jobs and privacy professionals- this is great! We need more good people.

But goals across privacy professionals aren’t as closely aligned as other booming fields.

I doubt they will all agree more privacy = good.

What this means is over the next 10 years the profession will go from, general consensus to more disagreement about what the future of privacy should look like. This may be based on different risks and cultural values.

Will be incredibly interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Will be interesting to see who sees fines and regulation as important and comply.

And who doesn’t- who won’t stop till they’re told to stop specific conduct- or threatened with jail time.

Will privacy move in the direction of financial regulations (highly regulated with jail time)? Or will it continue to be softer and fine driven?

Instead of looking for privacy folks with x number years experience, we will need to understand if their privacy values align with the role and values you’re looking for- there will be more variety and it won’t be plug and play.

We also need to ask about the ethics and better understand how they issue spot and gut reactions to problem solving.

It will vary widely. We should strive to find the right fit.

But also be aware the hiring privacy people doesn’t indicate privacy compliance or data ethics.

Privacy is also EXTREMELY DIFFERENT now than it was 5 years ago.

Who practiced privacy 5 years ago? People who handled: children’s, health, or financial data and folks who worked for companies under FTC consents (and FTC attorneys of course).

These aspects of privacy law in the US now feel: out of date, not enough, and are just a small fraction of “privacy” practice.

The laws that will define my privacy career haven’t even been made yet. That is so exciting. But remember: not all privacy people advocate & care about privacy.

We should be aware of that as folks bring in privacy pros to consult & help shape those laws - privacy values vary.