Senior Privacy Counsel, Asia-Pacific, Google
| C | laro V. Parlade is Google’s Senior Privacy Counsel, Asia-Pacific and as such is the APAC Policy Team’s privacy lead for the region, based in |
Singapore. Prior to joining Google, Mr. Parlade was Director for Software Policy for Asia-Pacific of the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Before moving to Singapore, he practiced law in the Philippines for almost two decades, most recently as a Senior Partner at the Parlade Hildawa Parlade Eco & Panga Law Offices (PHPEPLAW). He obtained his AB Economics Degree and his Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines. He completed a specialized Masters of Law in Dispute Resolution at Osgoode School of Law, York University, Canada. He is an internationally published author of a book on foreign investments (published and distributed worldwide by Sweet & Maxwell Asia) and numerous other legal articles in domestic and international publications.
The importance of data to the global economy, how it adds value, spurs innovation, increases productivity, and enhances competitiveness, cannot be overemphasized. Equally important however is the protection of user privacy, which is essential to the maintenance of trust in the online environment. For companies operating globally, this can be an enormous challenge, given the differences in privacy laws in different jurisdictions and, more fundamentally, in people’s understanding of privacy. With these in mind, Google has adopted 5 privacy principles that call for the development of products that reflect strong privacy standards, promotes transparency and choice in the collection and use of information, and ensures security of data. Aside from undertaking organizational steps to ensure privacy awareness throughout the organization, Google has endeavored to develop products that are innovative not only in terms of functionality but, more importantly, in ensuring that user’s privacy concerns are addressed. One often cited example is Google +, a product that offers a new way of sharing online, and yet was designed with privacy in mind, with numerous innovative privacy features.
