Thursday, August 6th, 2020 — Brave today announced that Dr Johnny Ryan, FRHistS, Brave’s Chief Policy and Industry Relations Officer, is departing from Brave to join the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. He will also take up a Senior Fellow position at the Open Markets Institute.
“During Johnny’s time at Brave since 2018, he has been instrumental in bringing Brave’s privacy by default approach to the forefront of US and European policy arenas, relentlessly advocating for users’ and publishers’ control over their data. He triggered regulatory investigations of Google’s advertising business in the EU, and pressed for stronger privacy laws in the US,” said Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave. “Just as Brave challenges the technology status quo for the better, the regulatory and policy status quo must be challenged too. I am excited to see what Johnny does, now that he will be focusing all of his energy on making sure the GDPR is enforced as it should be. I am grateful for his contribution at Brave.”
Brave also announced today that Pat Walshe will take up part of Dr Ryan’s duties, as Brave’s Data Protection Officer. Mr Walshe was previously Director of Privacy at the GSMA, and runs a consultancy called Privacy Matters.
Dr Ryan said “Brave is becoming the first global privacy brand. Its rapid growth demonstrates that privacy is good business, and that the privacy movement in tech is swelling. Now used by over 16 million users worldwide, the Brave browser proves that privacy equates to innovation. It has been a joy to work with Brendan and the team, and to see Brave invent the future technologies of privacy. Pat Walshe is a leader in the data protection community, and someone I greatly respect. I am delighted that he is joining Brave as DPO”.
