Jules Polonetsky (born August 18, 1965) is an American lawyer and internet privacy expert from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Future of Privacy Forum. Polonetsky is co-editor of the Cambridge Handbook on Consumer Privacy, with co-editors Omer Tene and Evan Selinger.

Education

Polonetsky graduated from

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

and

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

Career

He began his career in 1989 as an associate for

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP (known as Stroock) is an American law firm based in New York City, with offices also in Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington, DC. Stroock provides transactional and litigation guidance to multinational corporations, ...

and later served as a district representative for United States Representative, Steve Solarz, from 1990 to 1992. From 1992 to 1993, Polonetsky served as a legislative aide to United States Representative,

Charles Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...

. Polonetsky served in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

, from 1994 to 1997, representing southern Brooklyn. From 1998 to 2000, he served as commissioner of the

New York City Department of Consumer Affairs The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), formerly the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), is an agency of the Government of New York City. History The duties were performed by the Commissioner of Public Markets un ...

. During this role, Polonetsky was responsible for ensuring that all consumer advertising and sales complied with City, State and Federal consumer protection laws. He served as the Chief Privacy Officer, first for

DoubleClick DoubleClick Inc. was an advertisement company that developed and provided Internet ad serving services from 1995 until its acquisition by Google in March 2008. DoubleClick offered technology products and services that were sold primarily to adv ...

from 2000 to 2002, and then for

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

. During his time at

, Polonetsky worked with clients to institute and supervise their privacy policies and ensure that they complied with data protection requirements of the company's world-wide subsidiaries. He also oversaw the company's government affairs activities and consumer-related advertising practices and was the company's spokesperson for comprehensive policy issues. From 2002 to 2006, Polonetsky served as

’s Vice President of Integrity Assurance. He then served as

's CPO from 2006 to 2008, where he was responsible for maintaining user's trust in the company to handle their information. He also educated employees about the best advertising, content, and product development practices. During his time as CPO, Polonetsky also served as the Senior Vice President of Consumer Advocacy. He has served as the Future of Privacy Forum's CEO since its founding in 2008. FPF is a nonprofit organization that serves as a catalyst for privacy leadership and scholarship, advancing principled data practices in support of emerging technologies. FPF's current projects focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning, connected cars, student privacy, health information, advertising tech, smart communities and data sharing for research. He is the co-founder of the Israel Policy Tech Institute (IPTI), which is a think-tank for tech policy leadership and scholarship that advances ethical practices in support of emerging technologies. Polonetsky led the development of the Student Privacy Pledge, endorsed by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, and committed to by 350+ companies. The Student Privacy Pledge was introduced to safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information. He has led numerous, multi-stakeholder efforts to develop codes of conduct and best practices, which include the Mobile Location Analytics Opt-Out technology and Privacy Best Practices for Consumer Genetic Testing Services.

Involvement

From 2011 to 2012, Polonetsky was appointed to the Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee. He has served on the boards of multiple privacy and consumer protection organizations including

International Association of Privacy Professionals The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) is a nonprofit, non-advocacy membership association founded in 2000. It provides a forum for privacy professionals to share best practices, track trends, advance privacy management iss ...

and the

Network Advertising Initiative The Network Advertising Initiative is an industry trade group founded in 2000 that develops self-regulatory standards for online advertising. Advertising networks created the organization in response to concerns from the Federal Trade Commissio ...

. He has served on the Advisory Board of Truste, now

TrustArc TrustArc (formerly TRUSTe) is a privacy compliance technology company based in San Francisco, California. The company provides software and services to help corporations update their privacy management processes so they comply with government laws a ...

, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of OneTrust. Polonetsky is a member of the

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...

Privacy and Security Advisory Council. He is a frequent speaker at privacy and technology events and has presented and testified before Congressional committees and the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polonetsky, Jules 1965 births Living people Jewish American state legislators in New York (state) AOL people Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly New York University School of Law alumni Politicians from Brooklyn Privacy activists United States Department of Homeland Security officials Yeshiva University alumni Google employees New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioners in New York City