Law Technology News Editor-in-Chief Monica Bay began the LegalTech Keynote discussion “Privacy and Security” with a deceptively simple question for panelists: “Is privacy dead?” The resulting discussions addressed everything from cybersecurity to wearable biometric gadgets, suggesting just how complicated the answer to such a question might be.
Donna Payne, CEO of PayneGroup, described how her company has been working with privacy software since 1998, when it produced its first metadata removal tool. She has also had personal experience with privacy, having had problems with internet security herself, and having seen her friends struggle with it. She mentioned an incident in which her doctor asked her where a stalker might be getting information about her; within 10 minutes, Payne was able to find not only her doctor’s address and other personal details, but her social security number online. With more than 255 data brokers selling personal information online, Payne has made it her mission to help educate people about this industry: “It’s important that we know what is out there, and how to protect ourselves.”
