Cillian Kieran, founder and CEO of New York based Ethyca, said that privacy and privacy compliance have fundamentally become some of the biggest concerns for both business and public policy.
Ethyca is a data privacy start-up that provides developers and product teams with infrastructure to ensure consumer privacy throughout applications and services design.
Speaking in Davos, Cillian Kieran said the company is nearly two years old and is growing very rapidly as some of the largest tech companies in the US continue to automate their data privacy compliance.
On privacy issues, Mr Kieran said there is a trust deficit between average users and the businesses that collect information, adding that it has become an appreciating conversation for anyone at a policy level.
He said the view at Davos is that regulation is now necessary, but he questions whether this will be effective in terms of achieving the results which they need to - increasing safety for the end user.
WATCH: Interesting insights on privacy and data protection from @cillian (who must have been an early adopter on Twitter to get that username) founder and CEO of New York based @ethyca at #Davos2020 #WEF2020 pic.twitter.com/Rs3fs76A49
— Will Goodbody (@willgoodbody) January 24, 2020
It still remains to be seen whether industry can improve systems so that businesses can still glean value from that data commercially but make users safer in that process, or whether users will win out and industry will lose in that process.
On data protection, Cillian Kieran said that Helen Dixon, the Commissioner for Data Protection, and her team here have done an "incredible job" as they are effectively the front line for Europe as it relates to Big Tech from the US.
He said results from the several investigations that are ongoing will have "real teeth".
The reason they have taken so long is to ensure that they are valid investigations that really result in the right impact and changes in behaviour, he added.
