Introduction: 0:00

• Introducing Jules Polonetsky, CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington D.C. think tank that advances principled data practices.
• Formerly serving as Chief Privacy Officer at AOL and DoubleClick in the era before the proliferation of ad tech.
• Starting his career in politics as an assistant to politicians like now-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York State Assembly member.

Getting a start in New York politics: 1:57

• Leaving behind an underwhelming career in real estate law to help a friend run for local office.
• Discovering a passion for affecting change in your community.
• Taking big career risks when you’re young and don’t have commitments like mortgages and childrens’ tuition payments.
• Learning valuable lessons from Chuck Schumer about advocacy and not taking no for an answer.

Running for state assembly seat: 11:46

• Choosing to run for your previous employer’s state assembly seat when it became available.
• Being driven by a desire to help people through issues that affect them on a daily basis.
• Advocating for residents who were being squeezed by funeral home consolidation. 
• Moving to the executive branch to advance policy matters and work with consumer protection laws.

Taking on one of the first Chief Privacy Officer roles in the industry at DoubleClick: 16:43

• Joining an organization that was under siege by politicians linking online and offline data.
• Finding yourself cast as a villain despite the fact that you went above and beyond to notify consumers and give them the opportunity to opt out. 
• Democratizing web ads in an era before ad tech. 
• Complying with politicians whose goals ultimately aligned with his clients’ privacy protection plans. 
• Working with brands like Coca-Cola and Disney to make their cases for privacy to prominent senators.

The necessary training to be successful in privacy: 24:28

• Learning from history as new questions arise around topics like cookies.
• Figuring out how to explain to consumers how they benefit from ad tech.
• Recognizing that the best legal and policy minds often end up running strategy and ascending to CEO roles.
• Understanding the underlying economics of the business and distilling key legal and risk points to executives with tight schedules.

Founding the Future of Privacy Forum: 32:02

• Observing that trade groups often work against their own best interests in favor of consensus.
• Watching the privacy space grow from a few lawyers to thousands of experts across the industry.
• Building a space that occupies the middle ground between legislators and industry players. 
• Developing industry standards by way of advice to policy makers and analysis to executives.
• Looking back on the think tank’s biggest achievements.

Questioning the death of the Chief Privacy Officer role: 44:42

• Seeing the industry change from a largely unregulated space to a highly regulated global space. 
• Shifting power from an individual executive to expansive legal ethics teams.
• Passing on or accepting responsibilities related to AI governance.

Favorite part of your day-to-day work and professional pet peeves: 51:54

• Conducting product reviews and helping clients with hard questions.
• Feeling frustration from waves of redundant legislation instead of expanding upon existing laws.

Book recommendations: 56:41

• The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America by Sarah Igo
• Privacy Is Hard and Seven Other Myths by JH Hoepman
• The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future by Orly Lobel
• The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology by Nita A. Farahany 

What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 1:00:01

• Seeking out and building relationships with mentors.