When I started working as a fresh law school grad during the 2008 financial crisis in New York City, I didn’t know I was laying the groundwork for a journey into data privacy. My early work was about untangling complex financial concepts–helping homeowners navigate predatory lending, understanding the intricate world of mortgage securitization, and breaking down seemingly impenetrable financial structures into something people could actually understand.
For seventeen years, I’ve been a professional translator of complexity. Whether working through consumer bankruptcy issues or diving deep into the Fair Credit Reporting Act, my job was always about making the complicated comprehensible. I learned something crucial during those years: data isn’t just numbers or records. It’s the story of people’s lives, their financial struggles, their hopes, and their vulnerabilities.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act was particularly eye-opening for the work I’m doing now. I saw firsthand the real-world consequences of data mishandling–how a single error in a credit report could derail someone’s chance to buy a home, secure a job, or rebuild their financial life. I also saw how fragile trust levels could be between people and the companies who held increasingly more of their personal data. It wasn’t just about legal compliance; it was about protecting people’s fundamental ability to move forward in a complicated world.
My pivot to data protection law came from a simple, powerful realization: in our digital age, understanding and protecting personal data is about building trust. When businesses treat data with respect–as a reflection of real human experiences–they do more than comply with regulations, they bolster relationships.
Living between New York and Europe since 2022 exposed me to the GDPR, a privacy framework that, while criticized as overly burdensome by its opponents, is light-years ahead of U.S. approaches in protecting user data. It’s not just a set of rules; it’s a philosophy of data respect. I saw an opportunity to bridge worlds–to help U.S. practitioners understand this nuanced, human-centric approach to data protection.
This blog is my attempt to demystify data privacy. It’s for the business leader wondering how to build customer trust, the professional navigating new privacy landscapes, and anyone curious about how data protection really protects people.
Lots more to come, stay tuned.