The Fraudian Slip Podcast ITRC - Evolution of Privacy - Special Guest Synchrony

Show Transcript

Welcome to The Fraudian Slip, the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) podcast, where we talk about all-things identity compromise, crime and fraud that impact people and businesses.  

This month, May, we are going to talk about the evolution of privacy. Historically, we have always treated privacy, cybersecurity and identity management – that’s how your identity information is created and used – as three separate and distinct issues. We have a handful of federal laws that deal with identity and cybersecurity – primarily around health and financial information  

Every state, the District of Columbia and U.S. territory has a data breach notice law that requires consumers to get an alert if their personal information is exposed in a cyberattack or just good old-fashioned dumpster diving. We also have a patchwork quilt of industry self-regulations and government regulations that address the security required to protect data that companies keep on their customers and prospects. 

However, there is a change, and an evolution of privacy, in the wind. What started in the European Union in 2018 with the adoption of a single, comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity law has now spread to the U.S. California has adopted many of the principles found in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Now, the Commonwealth of Virginia has joined the club.  

A dozen other states are also actively considering new privacy laws that add rights for consumers, obligations for businesses and fundamentally change the way we think about how we create, use, store, share and protect personal information. 

We talked with Ricky Davis, Sr. Vice President & Chief Privacy Officer for Synchrony, one of the leading financial services companies based in the U.S., about the following: 

• The role of a Chief Privacy Officer 
• The benefits to an organization to have a privacy focus 
• What we have learned about the GDPR after three years that will help U.S. consumers and businesses 
• The concept of data minimization (don’t collect or store more than you need for longer than you need it) and why it is important 
• State laws versus a comprehensive federal law 

We also talked with ITRC CEO Eva Velasquez about the following:  

• The practical effect on consumers of having three separate infrastructures – privacy, security and identity management 
• The benefits to consumers from having more rights to access data 
• State laws versus a comprehensive federal law 

For answers to all of these questions, and more on the evolution of privacy, listen to this week’s episode of The Fraudian Slip Podcast.  

Read more: https://www.idtheftcenter.org/the-evolution-of-privacy-and-consumers-rights-to-access-data/