Google’s longtime chief privacy officer is set to leave the company this fall without a replacement as the tech giant grapples with a series of data breaches and user security concerns.
Keith Enright, a 13-year veteran of the company, was responsible for leading the team that protected user data and enforced security policies across Google’s vast empire.
He is reportedly set to step down in September.
“After more than 13 years at Google, I’m looking for a change and will be moving this fall to take everything I’ve learned and try something new,” Enright said in a lengthy LinkedIn post confirming her departure.
“I am incredibly proud of the team we’ve built and the work we’ve done to keep billions of people around the world safe and in control.”
News of the popular Enright’s departure was reportedly a “shock” to Google employees when it was first announced in mid-May. One staff member told Forbes:was first to report the move.
Google said the decision was part of a broader restructuring at the company that includes shifting responsibility for privacy to individual product teams.
“We regularly evolve our legal, regulatory and compliance efforts to meet new obligations and expectations. These changes will increase the number of people working on regulatory compliance across the company,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
The internal documents were leaked earlier this week. Retrieved from 404 Media It uncovered a series of privacy breaches at Google between 2013 and 2018, including the improper collection of children’s voice data, recorded license plate numbers, and carpool routes.
Google told the media that the incident had been resolved and the data had been erased.
Google also recently dealt with the leak of around 2,500 documents related to its search algorithms, which contained details that contradicted the company’s past statements about how search rankings work.
The company confirmed the leak was true but said the documents lacked context.
In December, Google settled a massive $5 billion lawsuit over allegations that it improperly tracked the personal data of millions of users who used the incognito mode of its Chrome browser.
Enright first took on the role in 2018.
That same year, he and other tech giant representatives came under scrutiny from members of the Senate Commerce Committee over their efforts to protect users.
“We acknowledge we made mistakes in the past, learned from them and have since improved our robust privacy program,” Enright said at the time.
With post wire
