Katharine Tomko: Privacy is a Fundamental Human Right

Data Privacy is a Fundamental Human Right 

In the first episode of a two-part series, Katherine Tomko–the first Head of Privacy Programs at Facebook, now a partner at First Ascent Ventures and an Osano board member–speaks with Arlo about her life’s work in data privacy, stemming from her family’s experience behind the Iron Curtain in the former Czechoslovakia.

About Our Guest

Katharine has been a leader in privacy technology and enterprise software since her days as the first Head of Privacy Programs at Facebook. As a recognized expert in data privacy and protection and partner at First Ascent Ventures, Katharine supports emerging technologies that aim to transform data privacy and security.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; instructions on how to do this are here.

Quotes:

• “I ultimately left Facebook and thought, OK, I want to get into venture capital at an earlier stage because potentially now I have a little bit more influence of saying, Hey, startups, you need to be thoughtful about your privacy and data strategy early.”
• “When I speak to start-ups about privacy, I don't think they fully internalize it. I think a lot of people assume we will hire a privacy professional, and they will just figure it out. They'll just make sure that we adhere to our privacy policy but don't fully internalize it. Hey, it's HR. It's recruiting. It's your front-end and back-end code developers.”
• “My journey into specializing in privacy and data protection stems from this profound understanding of the far-reaching consequences of privacy erosion on individuals, societies, and innovation.”
• “I think people also need to internalize. Informers are no longer sitting in bars, listening in on you like they're no longer on the street. We have much more sophisticated digital informers. Literally, everything you are putting online could potentially be misconstrued.”
• “I absolutely believe that privacy is a fundamental human right.”

Episode Resources:

• Katharine Tomko on LinkedIn
• First Ascent Ventures Website
• LinkSquares Website
• C100 LinkedIn Page