We have lost one of the truly great ones.
Like so many others, I was stunned to hear this morning that Caspar Bowden had passed away. I first met Caspar at a Privacy Law Scholars Conference years ago. He sat down next to me at a workshop and we started chatting. He was still Chief Privacy Officer for Microsoft at the time, and I was shocked that he even knew of my little privacy blog and even more shocked when he told me that he admired my advocacy. But that was typical of Caspar – there was nothing about privacy that was too small for him to take notice of and think about. He encouraged – and inspired – everyone he met by giving generously of his time and support.
It takes a special person to lose a huge corporate job by speaking truth to power, and Caspar was that special person.
There are so many things to say about Caspar and his impact on privacy advocacy internationally and his clear message that privacy is a human right, but I’m feeling pretty emotional right now, and so will just post this tweet from Jacob Appelbaum and then a video of a talk Caspar gave last year:
In the hospital @CasparBowden asked that we work to ensure equal protection regardless of nationality. Privacy is a universal human right.
— Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror) July 9, 2015