The Drum surveyed privacy experts at universities, think tanks, advertising agencies and adtech firms on what Data Privacy Day symbolizes in 2023, as we approach a turning point in how we collect, share and monetize consumers’ personal information. Here’s what they had to say:

Arielle Garcia, senior vice-president, chief privacy officer at IPG-owned ad agency UM Worldwide:

This Data Privacy Day arrives against a backdrop of enforcement and reinforcement that should serve to attract attention from more than just privacy professionals, but business and marketing leaders across categories on privacy and responsible data use as a central business priority. The proverbial ‘save-the-dates’ were sent out early, far and wide – for example, by way of the [California Consumer Privacy Act] Sephora settlement ‘warning shot,’ the FTC’s unexpected remedies in naming Drizly’s chief exec ordering data destruction and more recently, the findings of Canada’s privacy commissioner against Home Depot for sharing e-receipt information with Meta absent ‘valid consent.’