Jeffrey Blatt, of counsel in Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial group and head of the firm’s technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) practice, recently gave a presentation on the topic of “In Tech We Trust: Securing Digital Privacy in a Global Surveillance State” at the RSA Conference 2017 Asia Pacific & Japan in Singapore. Prior to his talk, he was interviewed by the conference organizer on what inspired him to speak on the subject.

In his interview, Jeffrey shared how a number of governments around the world are pursuing a “Nowhere to Hide” strategy, which, for security purposes, seeks to prevent users from gaining full digital privacy through a three-pronged approach to gain full access to data stored in the cloud and digital devices, as well as the use of malware to gain unauthorized access to systems.

Jeffrey cites the highly dynamic nature of the struggle between governments seeking to access data and technology companies seeking to maintain user privacy as one reason for why he selected the topic for the RSA Conference 2017. He added, “For the first time in history, in an unprecedented fashion, technology companies are providing us where the law is not – a digital safe place to hide.”

He concluded the interview by urging users to remain aware of how pervasive government access around the world is, and called on technology company leaders to play a role in questioning the extent to which governments should be allowed to access users’ data.

To watch a video of the interview, please visit the RSA Conference website.