Picked to Pioneer
Faculty member Jennifer Urban ’00 leads new California Privacy Protection Agency
“Jennifer’s expertise in data privacy and her personal integrity make her the ideal choice,” explains Catherine Crump, director of the school’s Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, where Urban is the director of policy initiatives.
Clinic Associate Director Erik Stallman ’03 calls Urban “a perfect fit,” noting that she is “frequently among the first to identify and study privacy, security, and intellectual property issues raised by emerging technologies.”
With explicit protections in its state constitution, innovative laws, and guidance from the attorney general’s office, Urban says California has long been a privacy leader. But with data mining and the COVID-19 pandemic expanding the public’s already massive reliance on the internet, protecting people’s digital identities and private information has become increasingly vital.
“As the world grows ever more data-driven, a dedicated body to protect consumer privacy rights, provide guidance to businesses, and enforce the law is necessary,” Urban asserts.
In 2018, California became the first state to equip consumers with new privacy tools and rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act. State voters broadened those protections by approving Proposition 24 in November, creating the agency.
With the authority and jurisdiction to implement and enforce California’s consumer privacy and privacy rights acts, the agency can bring enforcement actions related to either before an administrative law judge.
“Californians deserve control over their personal information, protection from privacy-invasive practices, and the ability to trust that their data is secure,” Urban says. “Businesses need clear rules and a level playing field that allows them to build privacy-protective products and services.”
A co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, Urban collaborates with technologists and academics to understand how new technologies and their regulatory structures interact with civil liberties, innovation, and creative expression.
She and her clinic students represent clients in information policy cases, addressing areas such as copyright and free expression, artists’ rights, government surveillance, biometrics, and defensive patent licensing.
“This is why so many of her students go on to become trusted leaders in their respective legal fields,” Stallman says.
Professor Chris Hoofnagle, who teaches interdisciplinary courses in cybersecurity with Urban, says her “appointment to this historically significant new institution will make Berkeley Law’s spirit — its values, and substantive and procedural expertise — a parent of the California Privacy Protection Agency.” —Andrew Cohen