Strata Conference New York September 23, 2011 http://strataconf.com/stratany2011/public/schedule/detail/21484 http://youtu.be/PKUI9iz0l9g The first generation of chief privacy officers were typically attorneys, charged with the formulation and enforcement of privacy policies. Times have changed. Given the speed and complexity of technology, the privacy policy is necessary but hardly sufficient. Because we live much of our lives in public, both online and offline, the Internet is transforming the anonymity of our cities into the familiarity of small towns. Privacy is deeply ingrained within the technology that manages this personal data. The products and services driving this transformation must consider privacy from the earliest design sessions. Today’s engineer CPO, and I’m one, must deeply involve themselves with the technology and product design process to bake-in privacy. This new breed of CPO is comfortable in an engineering scrum, product focus group, reviewing pending regulations, or analyzing A/B test results. They have the historical awareness, frontier spirit, regulatory caution, technical chops, and innovator’s curiosity to work through the toughest data issues. The promise of the engineer CPO is that products, not only safeguard privacy, but compete on it.