The Policy Forum at 
Privacy in the World of Internet of Things
On May 29, AT&T and Carnegie Mellon University hosted an in-depth discussion in Pittsburgh on one of the most challenging issues consumers and businesses face in a world of smartphones, wearables, and other internet-connected devices – privacy.
The event included welcome remarks from Tom Moore, Chief Privacy Officer, AT&T and a keynote presentation from Investigative Technology Reporter and Ted Talks Award Winner, Kashmir Hill.
A privacy panel followed moderated by Courtney Linder, Business Technology Reporter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Panel participants included the following industry experts:
- Lorrie Cranor, Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor in Security and Privacy Technologies, CyLab, FORE Systems Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering & Public Policy, CMU
- Stacey Gray, Senior Counsel, Future of Privacy Forum
- Jorge Guajardo Merchan, Principal Scientist & Manager, Security and Privacy Group; Robert Bosch LLC – Research and Technology Center North America
- Jason Hong, Professor, School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, CyLab Researcher, CMU
- Omar Khawaja, Vice President & CISO, Highmark Health
Speaker bios are available here.
Presentation materials are available here.
Event Recap
The AT&T Policy Forum hosted its first road show with the CyLab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The event facilitated an in-depth discussion on one of the most challenging issues consumers and businesses face in a world of smartphones, wearables, and other internet-connected devices – privacy.
The event featured an AT&T privacy presentation by Tom Moore, AT&T Chief Privacy Officer. During Moore’s presentation, he talked about how privacy is a top priority at AT&T and expressed the organization’s push for federal privacy legislation that would better protect consumers and avoid setting up a patchwork of laws and regulations that will stifle innovation.
A keynote presentation followed by Kashmir Hill, Technology Investigative Reporter and TED Talks Award Winner. During Hill’s speech, she shared her thoughts on the state of the privacy debate in today’s connected and “smart” device-driven world. She provided examples of her personal experience using these devices and her take on the methods and uses of the data that was collected. She ended her lively address by posing the question “who is the true beneficiary of IoT?” for discussion in the panel and for future thought.
Building off Moore’s and Hill’s presentations, the panel discussion, led by Courtney Linder from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, focused on the current regulatory and policy environment surrounding privacy. The panel, featuring Lorrie Cranor, Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor in Security and Privacy Technologies, CyLab, FORE Systems Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering & Public Policy, CMU; Stacey Gray, Senior Counsel, Future of Privacy Forum; Jorge Guajardo Merchan, Principal Scientist & Manager, Security and Privacy Group; Robert Bosch LLC – Research and Technology Center North America; Jason Hong, Professor, School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, CyLab Researcher, CMU; and Omar Khawaja, Vice President & CISO, Highmark Health, discussed the perceived benefits and drawbacks of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), policy solutions for improving consumer privacy and the need to involve industry, as well as a deep-dive into the privacy benefits and concerns associated with the emerging AI and facial recognition technologies.
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