Every enterprise today—from the world’s largest financial and retail establishments to the smallest of healthcare providers—is struggling to manage and exploit the exploding volume of personal information that comes within their possession,while also maintaining data security and complying with privacy-related laws and regulations. They are not alone. Courts, legislators and regulators also are striving to find ways to protect legitimate privacy rights while keeping the realities of today’s technology evolution and business environment in mind. The breakneck speed at which technology continues to develop, often without consideration of privacy concerns, further heightens these already difficult challenges.
Looking at privacy issues through the prism of existing laws and regulations is sometimes like putting a round peg into a square hole. Despite the current difficulties and uncertainties in today’s high tech, Big Data world, J. Trevor Hughes, president and CEO of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, has identified certain trends in legal and regulatory spheres that provide important insights into where we all may be headed in the near future. We recently sat down for a conversation and he outlined his observations.
