The free, public lecture by Brill, to be held in Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road, on the Kingston campus, is part of URI’s 2014 Honors Colloquium, “Cybersecurity & Privacy.”
The presenting sponsor for the entire colloquium is Cox Business. Also thanks to the generosity of Cox Business, a free iPad mini will be given away at each event. You must attend the event to have a chance to win.
Click here for a full schedule of Cybersecurity and Privacy speakers.
Those unable to attend the lecture can watch it live online at URI Live! 
Brill’s talk, titled, “Big Data, Data Brokers and the Business of Tracking,” will address how consumers’ personal information has become big business. Uses of personal information can improve services, make lives more convenient, and even provide solutions to important social challenges.
However, Brill argues a world awash in personal information also carries risks for consumers. Many consumers are unaware of “data brokers,” that gather massive amounts of data, from online and offline sources, and combine them into profiles about each of us.
They examine each piece of information they hold about us—where we live, where we work and how much we earn, our race, our daily online and off line activities, our interests, our health conditions and our overall financial status—to create a narrative about our past, present, and even our future lives, according to Brill.
She will explain how these data brokers also know what our faces look like, and the importance of protecting our privacy.
Brill earned her law degree from New York University and has taught at Columbia’s School of Law.
Prior to her work at the FTC, Brill served as senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust in North Carolina as well as assistant attorney general for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the State of Vermont for more than 20 years.
Brill has been named the International Association of Privacy Professionals Privacy Leader of the Year, and the New York University School of Law Alumna of the Year.
Click here for more information on Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill’s presentation.
In addition to Cox Business the colloquium is sponsored by the URI Honors Program, URI Office of the President; URI Office of the Provost; The Mark and Donna Ross Honors Colloquium Humanities Endowment; The Thomas Silvia and Shannon Chandley Honors Colloquium Endowment; URI College of Human Science and Services; URI Talent Development; URI Multicultural Center; URI College of Arts & Sciences; URI Harrington School of Communications and Media; URI John Hazen White, Sr. Center for Ethics and Public Service; URI College of Pharmacy; URI College of Engineering; URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences; URI College of Nursing; URI College of Business Administration; URI Division of Student Affairs; URI Department of Communications and Marketing; URI Department of Publications and Creative Services; URI ITS Instructional Technology and Media Services
This release was written by Rachel Smith, a Graduate Student Assistant for the URI Marketing and Communication Department.