October 24, 2010
Privacy Advocate Withdraws from RapLeaf Advisory Board
By Julia Angwin
Jim Dempsey, a privacy advocate at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said he resigned from RapLeaf Inc.'s privacy advisory board after being contacted by the Wall Street Journal about his role at the Internet tracking company.
Mr. Dempsey is a vice president at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington nonprofit advocacy group. The center is pushing for federal privacy legislation that would require websites to notify consumers if their data are being shared with third parties such as RapLeaf.
Mr. Dempsey said he joined RapLeaf's advisory board about three years ago at the request of the company. He said he did not view his position as an endorsement of RapLeaf's approach to privacy.
"My attitude is I'll go wherever anybody is willing to listen to me," Mr. Dempsey said in an interview. "They've been very willing to listen."
Joel Jewitt, RapLeaf's vice president for business development, said that Mr. Dempsey's "counsel has been highly valuable to us."
Mr. Dempsey said that about a year ago he became concerned that his appearance on RapLeaf's website could have been viewed as an endorsement -- so he asked the company to take it down. "I'm not there to bless them," he said. "When they did list me on their website, that looked like an implied blessing."
He remained on the company's privacy advisory board until he was contacted by the Wall Street Journal this month. The Center for Democracy and Technology says it is now re-evaluating its criteria for participation in corporate advisory boards.