Privacy is one of those topics everyone knows they should understand better -- right up until it becomes urgent. And right now, it’s urgent.
That’s exactly why I wanted Richy Glassberg, Co-Founder and CEO of SafeGuard Privacy, on my podcast, Insider Interviews: With Media & 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 scale.
We know that the digital advertising ecosystem just doesn’t work if marketers don’t understand who they’re selling to and what consumers might need next. That’s the power of data. But it also doesn’t work if companies aren’t clear on the expanding patchwork of state-by-state privacy regulations. And newsflash: these are now being actively enforced.
“Compliance,” Richy told me, “is one of the most complicated things that a marketer has to worry about.” The capper is that “these laws don’t care what kind of digital advertising you do. They ask one question—do you have data on a consumer, and what are you doing with it?”
That question applies to nearly everyone with a website, a product to sell, or a brand to grow.
Why Privacy Laws Impact Structure, Not Just Legal Departments
One of the most important points Richy reminds us of is that privacy laws aren’t 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 partners.
When 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 knocking.
And increasingly, that risk doesn’t stop with your own organization. As Richy put it, borrowing from scripture, you are your vendors’ keeper. Brands are now accountable not only for their own data practices, but for the entire chain of partners they rely on.
That realization is what led Richy to build SafeGuard Privacy: a cloud-based platform designed to standardize privacy assessments, so compliance becomes part of the business infrastructure—not a last-minute checkpoint.
Another part of the problem he was trying to solve was fragmentation -- driven in part by the rapid expansion of state-level privacy laws, each with its own definitions, requirements, and enforcement mechanisms.
“Plus,” Richy said, “everybody was writing their own questions. And not only were they all different, they were often the wrong questions for the type of company being assessed.”
So, 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 from.
Case in point:
SafeGuard Privacy recently rolled out a U.S. Multi-State Comprehensive Assessment designed to address this reality head-on, along with two legal AI tools -- Privacy Assist™ AI and Privacy Assist™ RFI -- to improve the speed and accuracy of vendor diligence and assessment sharing.
So, instead of answering dozens of different questionnaires for different partners, companies complete a single, standardized assessment that can be reused and audited.
When 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 world’s largest ad-tech companies beta-tested Privacy Assist™ who told Richy that what once took them two to three days to complete now takes about 80 minutes.
“That’s not about cutting corners,” Richy emphasized. “It’s about eliminating repetitive work so lawyers can focus on judgment, not data entry.”
A Cloud-Based Answer to Compliance Chaos
Speed matters --but accuracy matters more.
That’s 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 perjury.
In other words, this is not paperwork you want to rush -- or redo.
From First Pixel to Privacy Pioneer
Richy’s credibility in this space is rooted in experience. He helped launch CNN’s digital business. He was a co-founder of the IAB and served as its first Vice-Chairman. He’s built and managed multiple layers of the digital and mobile advertising ecosystem.
And 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. “I’m probably helping to tame the beast I helped birth,” he joked.
That long view matters. Richy understands how quickly innovation can outpace guardrails -- and how painful it can be to retrofit responsibility after the fact.
Standardization as Strategy
In 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 IAB-led thinktanks back in the day!) Richy led some of those, and stomps for standards again now. He said, “Privacy doesn’t have to slow growth. If you standardize it, make it auditable, and prove it once, it becomes a competitive advantage.”
That belief is still held by the IAB, which has adopted SafeGuard Privacy as the foundation of its IAB Diligence Platform, creating a reusable, industry-wide approach to privacy diligence rather than those endless bespoke questionnaires.
AI That Keeps Humans in the Loop
Of course, we also touched on AI, a topic often treated as either a panacea or a threat. Richy’s approach is deliberately measured.
SafeGuard’s AI tools help pre-populate assessments, surface documentation, and reduce repetitive legal work -- but, as mentioned, they don’t replace attorneys. AI increases efficiency; accountability remains human. And for organizations facing real regulatory scrutiny, that distinction matters.
That reflects Richy and his work -- across advertising, privacy, and personally: a belief in using technology responsibly and with a human touch.
Richy is a founding force behind BreastCancer.org, now one of the most trusted peer-reviewed 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 long-term viability.
“The internet should democratically distribute information,” he told me -- whether that means empowering patients with reliable medical knowledge or helping marketers navigate compliance without fear.
Richy Glassberg works in a world defined by discretion and safeguards yet remains an open book -- grounded in purpose, devoted to his wife/best friend Katie, loyal to his Jack Russells, disciplined through martial arts, and committed to making privacy compliance clearer, calmer, and more human.
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.