Hey everybody! Welcome to Conversations with Doc Martin, where we talk to extraordinary people doing extraordinary things!
In today’s interview, we talk to Tanya Forsheit!
Tanya is Chair of the Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz Privacy & Data Security Group and is Supervising Partner of the Los Angeles Office. The Legal 500 praised her in the 2020 edition as a leading expert in the California Consumer Privacy Act, and is one of the leading authorities in data privacy. The Daily Journal has twice named her as one of the top cyber attorneys in California, and she is also an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.
We start our conversation by diving into how Tanya got into the cyber and online data privacy world of practicing law. She tells us how she actually got into the field kind of by accident, as when she graduated from law school, it wasn’t yet a specific field of work. She goes on to explain how she started out by litigating for a large law firm, but as websites like Facebook and other social media platforms began to arise, so did the laws and needs surrounding privacy and online data. Right around the same time, the state of California had also passed a law that required companies to inform their users of any data leaks that occurred regarding their personal information, and as more laws and issues around this topic occurred, so did the need for data and privacy experts in the field of law.
Tanya continues on to tell us how her job as a lawyer in this industry is two-fold. Not only does she help to make sure companies are doing the right thing from both a legal and ethical standpoint when it comes to their user’s data, but in doing so even though her primary focus is assisting the company, she is also indirectly helping the end consumers as well. She dives into some of the most common misconceptions about data and online privacy, to include the fact that one of the biggest misconceptions is that privacy doesn’t, or can’t, coexist with technology.
When it comes to where one can learn how to protect themselves and their data online, Tanya says that one of the best places to start is within your own circle of family and friends. She says that she believes more often than not, reaching out, especially to younger generations who have grown up with technology and understand it more in depth such as kids or grandkids, you’ll find that they’ll be happy to explain to you how you can go about protecting yourself and your data online by learning and following some basic principles. She says another common misconception of online privacy is that younger generations don’t care as much about their privacy as older generations, when in fact it’s not that they don’t care, they just innately know how to protect it better.
We talk about all of this and so much more! It was truly a valuable and eye opening experience into the world of data, privacy, and security while using the web we’ve all grown to know and love!
For the full interview and for more insight on protecting yourself on the internet, check out the full interview on Conversations with Doc Martin by clicking here!
In Gratitude,
Doc Martin
