The power and peril of data in Smart Communities, with Debbie Reynolds

In this episode, I have a brilliant conversation with Debbie Reynolds, also known as The Data Diva. Debbie is a thought-leader and advisor to Multinational Corporations for handling global data privacy, cyber data breach planning and response, and complex cross-functional management of data-centric projects. In this episode, Debbie and I talk about the divide she saw growing up between the opportunities available in big cities like Chicago compared to nearby small towns and suburbs, and how that sparked her interest in the Smart Community space. Debbie shares with us the trends and considerations she sees related to the digital divide, and how it plays out differently in the US compared to Europe and elsewhere, plus why it's so important to inform citizens about data transparency, privacy and protection issues so that they can make informed decisions. We talk about the new data privacy laws in California that came into effect in January 2020 and the impacts Debbie expects, both at the individual citizen level and the big tech companies level. Now, we recorded this conversation in December 2019, so we talk about the California Consumer Privacy Act in future tense, but of course this episode is airing in April 2020 and so the CCPA is well underway now. Debbie shares her observations of what's happening globally as the world moves towards more data ownership at different rates in different places and the challenges and opportunities of integrating and collaborating between disciplines, organisations and governments, especially with regards to data breaches and ransomware incidents. We finish our chat discussing the emerging trends of the prevalence of biometric data and also of ransomware attacks on public and private organisations. Be aware that there are a couple of spots in this interview where the audio cuts out or clips the end of words, however it's a brilliant conversation overall. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Debbie via her website www.debbiereynoldsconsulting.com Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.