Smart Cities Privacy & Equity

Professor Brian Ray has extensive experience in information governance, cybersecurity, and data privacy. He co-founded and directs the Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection and edits the Center-sponsored SSRN Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and eDiscovery eJournal. Ray also co-founded the Cleveland eDiscovery, Data Security and Privacy Roundtable, an informal group of lawyers, judges and academics that meets monthly to discuss issues surrounding electronic discovery, cybersecurity and data privacy issues.

Born and raised in Spain, Lydia F. de la Torre is a dual-licensed attorney (Madrid Bar and California Bar.). She is a privacy expert and influential commentator on data privacy and protection at the local and state level who currently serves as a Board Member at the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA.) Lydia is the founding Partner of Golden Data Law and teaches comparative privacy law at UC Hastings.

Lydia started her career working for the large Spanish law firm Garrigues where she specialized in new technologies and data protection. After moving to the US, she passed the California bar and obtained an L.L.M. at Santa Clara University School of Law. After graduation she gained valuable experience working in the privacy law departments at both eBay and PayPal. Lydia returned to Santa Clara to serve as the inaugural privacy fellow in 2017, where she had an opportunity to co-direct the Law School privacy certificate program.

More recently, Lydia was of counsel at Squire Patton Boggs. providing strategic privacy compliance advice related to US and EU privacy, including data protection and cybersecurity law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), other states’ privacy and cyber laws, US financial privacy laws, and marketing and advertising compliance, as well as information security.

After her appointment as a Board Member to CPPA, Lydia founded Golden Data Law,  a mission driven benefit corporation that provides legal services to the nonprofit/not-for-profit community.

Lydia is a frequently invited to speak on privacy-related topics, such as the freedom of speech implications of privacy laws, ethics and privacy, the application of privacy laws to blockchain technology, financial privacy laws and the CCPA. Lydia is a prolific writer and has been published in a variety of outlets, from mainstream media to privacy and legal publications. She is the co-editor of Golden Data, a Medium publication focused on data laws. Lydia also teaches advanced courses in privacy law.

Brian Hofer is Chair of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission and the Chair and Executive Director of Secure Justice. His advocacy has been instrumental in a number of nation-leading ordinances, including ones that established a vetting framework for the potential acquisition and use of surveillance equipment. Mr. Hofer is presently consulting with the cities of San Diego, San Jose, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Portland on establishing similar frameworks.

Brian has presented on his work at conferences sponsored by the California Department of Justice, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Berkeley Law School, NYU Law School, Georgetown Law School, Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, and he has testified before various California state Senate and Assembly committees in support of privacy enhancing legislation.

Kelsey is a Senior Privacy Associate at Aleada Consulting, where she advises clients on privacy and data protection issues. Kelsey is also an adjunct professor with the William and Mary School of Law.

Previously, Kelsey was Senior Privacy Counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum where she led FPF’s work on smart cities and communities and established the Civic Privacy Leaders Network, among other projects. Kelsey collaborated with senior privacy leaders in industry, government, academia, and civil society to build best practices, conduct maturity assessments, inform sound policymaking, and create educational materials to advance responsible data practices for emerging technologies.

Before FPF, Kelsey was an inaugural Westin Fellow at the International Association of Privacy Professionals, where she produced practical research on a range of privacy topics and edited the FTC Privacy & Security Casebook.

She is a graduate of Smith College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, with a concentration in Intellectual Property and Information Law. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM).