The lightly regulated world of social media has created high-profile privacy and security controversies for companies like Facebook, Google and others that collect and disseminate massive amounts of personal data from millions of users worldwide — issues that could create political liabilities for politicians like Democrat Attorney General candidate Chris Kelly.
Bringing order to that Wild West environment has given candidates like Mr. Kelly, formerly Facebook’s chief privacy officer, a chance to work on policy making long before they hold elected office. But social media companies like Facebook also sit at the heart of intense debates over online privacy.
Mr. Kelly’s campaign will be a litmus test for how these privacy issues resonate with the public in the political arena, and also for how the strengths and vulnerabilities of a background in social media companies confers on other executives who may consider running for public office. Our friends over at California Watch have written about this in more detail. Check it out here…
Of course, one this is for sure — the big bucks Kelly made at Facebook certainly are helpful to his campaign…