Ray Everett (born March 27, 1969), formerly known as Ray Everett-Church, is an American
attorney,
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
and
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
. He was dubbed "the dean of corporate
Chief Privacy Officers" by ''Interactive Week Magazine,'' first creating that title and position in 1999 at
Internet advertising
Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...
company
AllAdvantage. In 1997, he was profiled by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' as an influential advocate of responsible online advertising. In 2013 and 2014
Business Insider
''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...
designated him among the “Most Important
LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
People in Tech.”
[
]
Biography
Everett combined computers, writing and security at an early age. He purchased his first computer, a
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
, and a 300-baud modem at age 14. A year later, he published his first article, writing for the ''Westview'' (a Nashville area community newspaper) and detailing his experiences as a youthful
cracker of various early online services and
WATS systems.
He worked for the American Immigration Lawyers Association in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, where he first became involved with the issue of
spam
Spam most often refers to:
* Spam (food), a consumer brand product of canned processed pork of the Hormel Foods Corporation
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
...
as a result of the notorious "
Green Card Lottery" spams sent by immigration lawyers
Canter & Siegel. That involvement was featured in a ''
Wired Magazine
''Wired'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. It is published in both print and Online magazine, online editions by Condé Nast. The magazine has been in public ...
'' article in 1999. He continued to work on the emerging issues of spam and Internet privacy as independent consultant, where his work included developing anti-spam policies and enforcement practices for
America Online
AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo! Inc.
The service tra ...
, and as an Associate at the telecommunications law firm of Haley Bader & Potts PLLC in
Ballston,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
.
In 1999 he went to work for Internet infomediary
AllAdvantage where he, along with
AllAdvantage CEO
Jim Jorgensen, conceived of the corporate
Chief Privacy Officer position and helped define the privacy standards for the world's first implementation of a mass market
infomediary. He was also the Vice President for Public Policy at
AllAdvantage, where he managed lobbying and government relations, including the first piece of anti-spam legislation ever passed by the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
. In April 2000, Everett orchestrated a visit from then-President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
as the keynote speaker at a $1.1 Million fundraising event celebrating
AllAdvantage's first anniversary.
From 2001 to 2004, he served as
Chief Privacy Officer and Vice President for Consulting for Philadelphia-based
ePrivacy Group, a privacy consulting and anti-spam technology firm. While there, he was part of the executive team that built anti-spam technology company
TurnTide Inc., which was sold to
Symantec Corporation
Gen Digital Inc. (formerly Symantec Corporation and NortonLifeLock Inc.) is a multinational software company co-headquartered in both Prague, Czech Republic ( EU) and Tempe, Arizona ( USA). The company provides cybersecurity software and servi ...
in 2004 for $28 million.
After privacy roles at Habeas, Responsys,
Keynote Systems
Keynote Systems was a U.S. based company that specialized in developing and marketing software as a service technology to measure, test, and improve from the end user perspective, the performance of websites, online content, applications, and ser ...
, and
Yahoo
Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...
,
in 2014 he became Director of Product Management and Principal Consultant at
TrustArc
TrustArc Inc. (formerly TRUSTe) is a privacy compliance technology company based in Walnut Creek, California. The company provides software and services to help corporations update their privacy management processes so they comply with government ...
(formerly TRUSTe)
where his group designed software for automating privacy risk management and built the company's first consulting practice. In 2019, he joined the financial technology company
Blackhawk Network Holdings as
Chief Privacy Officer and in 2022 joined biotech startup Avellino Lab USA.
While he has spent considerable time working with Internet start-up ventures in Silicon Valley, his consulting clients have included many large global organizations such as
Pharmacia
Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995.
History
Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfel ...
,
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...
,
Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...
,
Intuit
Intuit Inc. is an American multinational business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparati ...
,
Aventis
Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo merg ...
,
Household/HSBC,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
, the
National Association of Home Builders
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States, representing the interests of home builders, developers, contractors, and associated businesses. NAHB is headquartered in Washington, D ...
,
Ericsson
(), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
,
Comcast
Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
,
Pandora Radio
Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by the broadcasting corporation Sirius XM that is based in Oakland, California in the United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the " Music Genome Proje ...
,
Kia Motors
Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, ...
,
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...
,
Fujifilm
, trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...
,
Kellogg's
Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets con ...
,
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...
,
Mondelez,
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is an American life science and clinical research company. It is a global supplier of analytical instruments, clinical development solutions, specialty diagnostics, laboratory, pharmaceutical and biotechnology s ...
,
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
, and
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. (sometimes called simply Yum!) is an American multinational fast food corporation. It is a spin-off of PepsiCo, after they acquired KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. PepsiCo divested the brands in 1997, and these consolidated as ...
. In 1997, he was a co-founder of the anti-spam
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. In 2002, he was a founding board member of the Privacy Officers Association (now called the
International Association of Privacy Professionals
The IAPP is a nonprofit, non-advocacy membership association founded in 2000. It provides a forum for privacy professionals to share best practices, track trends, advance privacy management issues, standardize the designations for privacy profess ...
).
Publications
Everett co-authored ''Internet Privacy for Dummies'' (2002) and ''Fighting Spam for Dummies'' (2004), both part of the popular "...
For Dummies
''For Dummies'' is an extensive series of instructional reference books that strive to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. The series has been a worldwide success, with editions in numerous languages.
...
" book series published by
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...
. He has also written chapters on privacy and other Internet-related legal issues for ''The Internet Encyclopedia'' (2003) and ''The Handbook of Information Security'' (2006). He co-authored the
Trusted Email Open Standard, a technical framework for increasing security and trust leveraging existing email technologies and protocols. From 2004 to 2009, he was a columnist for eSecurityPlanet.com and
Datamation
''Datamation'' is a computer magazine that was published in print form in the United States between 1957 and 1998, (
JupiterMedia) and wrote more than fifty columns on privacy, security, spam.
Education
Everett holds a B.A. in International Studies from
George Mason University
George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...
(where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper
''Broadside'') and a
Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from
The George Washington University Law School. While in law school, he studied under Professor
Jonathan Turley, where he was on a litigation team challenging
Black Bag Operations authorized under the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA, , ) is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil.[espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...]
cases against former CIA agent
Harold J. Nicholson and former FBI agent
Earl Edwin Pitts.
Notable activities
*Principal at PrivacyClue LLC, a privacy consultancy based in the
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
area
*Columnist for JupiterMedia's Datamation.com and eSecurityPlanet.com
*Weekly segment on The
David Lawrence Show on
satellite radio
Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a '' broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than te ...
*Co-founder and former counsel to the
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE)
*Member of the National Advisory Council for the
(SEAS)
*Founding Board Member Network Time Foundation
References
External links
Ray Everett's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Everett, Ray
1969 births
Living people
American lawyers
American computer businesspeople
American gay writers
George Washington University Law School alumni
George Mason University alumni