Privacy Compliance Isn’t a Legal Checkbox -- It’s Marketing Infrastructure

Thatamp8217s exactly why I wanted Richy Glassberg CoFounder and CEO of SafeGuard Privacy on my podcast Insider Interviews With Media ampamp Marketing Pros He has a human way of explaining the regulatory jargon and complexity of what may be the biggest challenge facing any company that touches digital media and marketing today privacy compliance at scaleWe know that the digital advertising ecosystem just doesnamp8217t work if marketers donamp8217t understand who theyamp8217re selling to and what consumers might need next Thatamp8217s the power of data But it also doesnamp8217t work if companies arenamp8217t clear on the expanding patchwork of statebystate privacy regulations And newsflash these are now being actively enforcedamp8220Complianceamp8221 Richy told me amp8220is one of the most complicated things that a marketer has to worry aboutamp8221 The capper is that amp8220these laws donamp8217t care what kind of digital advertising you do They ask one questionamp8212do you have data on a consumer and what are you doing with itamp8221That question applies to nearly everyone with a website a product to sell or a brand to growWhy Privacy Laws Impact Structure Not Just Legal DepartmentsOne of the most important points Richy reminds us of is that privacy laws arenamp8217t just for the legal team or the marketing team They are structural These laws govern how data flows through an organization how it is shared across teams and how accountability travels across partnersWhen privacy is treated as a departmental responsibility things break Marketing may move faster than legal can review Product teams may launch features without full visibility into data use Vendors are approved in silos with no consistent way to prove compliance across relationships So yes warning Will Robinson this is exactly where risk creeps in if a regulator comes knockingAnd increasingly that risk doesnamp8217t stop with your own organization As Richy put it borrowing from scripture you are your vendorsamp8217 keeper Brands are now accountable not only for their own data practices but for the entire chain of partners they rely onThat realization is what led Richy to build SafeGuard Privacy a cloudbased platform designed to standardize privacy assessments so compliance becomes part of the business infrastructureamp8212not a lastminute checkpointAnother part of the problem he was trying to solve was fragmentation driven in part by the rapid expansion of statelevel privacy laws each with its own definitions requirements and enforcement mechanismsamp8220Plusamp8221 Richy said amp8220everybody was writing their own questions And not only were they all different they were often the wrong questions for the type of company being assessedamp8221So the SafeGuard platform was built based on the input of scores of experienced privacy attorneys paired with AI tools designed to assist not replace human judgment The goal is to turn compliance into an operational system that gives each client company a vetted launch pad for their own attorneys to jump off fromCase in pointSafeGuard Privacy recently rolled out a US MultiState Comprehensive Assessment designed to address this reality headon along with two legal AI tools Privacy Assistamp8482 AI and Privacy Assistamp8482 RFI to improve the speed and accuracy of vendor diligence and assessment sharingSo instead of answering dozens of different questionnaires for different partners companies complete a single standardized assessment that can be reused and auditedWhen I asked Richy how much time that actually saves in practice he proudly shared a testimonial from the global chief privacy officer at one of the worldamp8217s largest adtech companies betatested Privacy Assistamp8482 who told Richy that what once took them two to three days to complete now takes about 80 minutesamp8220Thatamp8217s not about cutting cornersamp8221 Richy emphasized amp8220Itamp8217s about eliminating repetitive work so lawyers can focus on judgment not data entryamp8221A CloudBased Answer to Compliance ChaosSpeed matters but accuracy matters moreThatamp8217s especially true with new requirements coming into force As of January 1 2026 for example California regulators can require businesses to produce formal Risk Assessment Reports upon request These assessments must evaluate data processing activities including the sale or sharing of data and must be signed by a senior executive under penalty of perjuryIn other words this is not paperwork you want to rush or redoFrom First Pixel to Privacy PioneerRichyamp8217s credibility in this space is rooted in experience He helped launch CNNamp8217s digital business He was a cofounder of the IAB and served as its first ViceChairman Heamp8217s built and managed multiple layers of the digital and mobile advertising ecosystemAnd yes he openly acknowledges that he helped create some of the systems now under scrutiny In our episode he recounts how he agreed to carry one of the first tracking pixels for a major ad campaign at a time when measurement standards barely existed amp8220Iamp8217m probably helping to tame the beast I helped birthamp8221 he jokedThat long view matters Richy understands how quickly innovation can outpace guardrails and how painful it can be to retrofit responsibility after the factStandardization as StrategyIn the early days of digital advertising that lack of standards nearly stalled growth Agencies publishers and brands eventually aligned on ad sizes and best practices and scale followed I am proud to have participated in some of those IABled thinktanks back in the day Richy led some of those and stomps for standards again now He said amp8220Privacy doesnamp8217t have to slow growth If you standardize it make it auditable and prove it once it becomes a competitive advantageamp8221That belief is still held by the IAB which has adopted SafeGuard Privacy as the foundation of its IAB Diligence Platform creating a reusable industrywide approach to privacy diligence rather than those endless bespoke questionnairesAI That Keeps Humans in the LoopOf course we also touched on AI a topic often treated as either a panacea or a threat Richyamp8217s approach is deliberately measuredSafeGuardamp8217s AI tools help prepopulate assessments surface documentation and reduce repetitive legal work but as mentioned they donamp8217t replace attorneys AI increases efficiency accountability remains human And for organizations facing real regulatory scrutiny that distinction mattersThat reflects Richy and his work across advertising privacy and personally a belief in using technology responsibly and with a human touchRichy is a founding force behind BreastCancerorg now one of the most trusted peerreviewed health information sites in the world serving more than 20 million women globally each year He helped secure the URL design its revenue model and ensure its longterm viabilityamp8220The internet should democratically distribute informationamp8221 he told me whether that means empowering patients with reliable medical knowledge or helping marketers navigate compliance without fearRichy Glassberg works in a world defined by discretion and safeguards yet remains an open book grounded in purpose devoted to his wifebest friend Katie loyal to his Jack Russells disciplined through martial arts and committed to making privacy compliance clearer calmer and more humanPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Privacy Compliance Isn’t a Legal Checkbox -- It’s Marketing Infrastructure

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