Georgetown – FPF: Valuable Partnership and Talent Channel
This August, Stacey Gray was promoted to the position of Policy Counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF). In this role, she covers Location & Ad Tracking, Big Data, and the Internet of Things. Stacey stays on top of developments in the space, like the new iOS Limit Ad Tracking Feature, and facilitates monthly working group meetings. She has also taken the lead on the highly anticipated Privacy Papers for Policymakers (PPPM) event, and has lent her extensive expertise to events like the 2016 Place Conference.
Stacey first came to FPF as a fellow from Georgetown University Law Center in August 2015, continuing a tradition of Georgetown graduates working fellowships at FPF. Each of the last three years, FPF has taken a top Georgetown student and immersed them in the world of privacy. FPF fellows collaborate with advocates, academics, and companies and handle projects that lead to best practices, white papers, codes of conduct, and the like.
Other FPF fellows to come from Georgetown include Sarah Gordon (September 2013-August 2014), who has worked for Zillow as a Corporate Counsel since her fellowship ended, and Stephany Fan (September 2014-May 2015), who went on to work at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP as an Associate.
When Stacey was a fellow, she worked on consumer privacy issues, work that she has continued as a Policy Counsel. “My background is in civil rights,” Stacey said. “As a result, I became interested in privacy through my academic focus on the Fourth Amendment.”
Stacey feels that FPF presents an unusual opportunity. “What strikes me as different about working here is the extent to which our work relies on nuance and technical expertise,” she said. “FPF is not as concerned with ‘taking a position’ as we are with getting to the right answers to important questions. This often means considering all sides of crucial debates, even when they are not necessarily about privacy at all, but about ethics, fairness or discrimination. It also means that among our policy staff we are constantly pushing each other to better understand the issues and engage intellectually with the underlying ideas.”
Stacey says that this has made her experience at FPF “tremendously challenging and rewarding.” Now, Stacey serves as a mentor for our newest fellow from Georgetown, Carolina Alonso. Carolina joined us in September, and has been working on the Student Privacy Pledge, as well as several projects related to kids and the connected home. This includes a joint paper with the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), set to be released in December. Carolina also works closely with Stacey on Ad Tech.
Carolina, who grew up in Silicon Valley, and has interned with organizations like Facebook and Yahoo, says FPF is a unique place. “When you join FPF, they expect that you are going to be the expert,” Carolina said. “This is different from school. Everything we do here has a real purpose and a real audience.”
Like Stacey, Carolina feels that her fellowship at FPF has been a valuable experience. “People here are very approachable and friendly. That makes Georgetown-FPF a great partnership.”
We agree. FPF has been fortunate to have a stream of high-level young talent, and we enjoy helping recent graduates build a solid foundation in the privacy field.
Andrew Blanchard-Reed is a FPF Communications Fellow. Andrew is enrolled in the fall 2016 Claremont McKenna College Washington Program.
Pictured Above: Carolina Alonso (left) and Stacey Gray (right)
