Peter Swire

• Research director and lead counsel for the Cross-Border Data Forum, the leading think tank on international data flows.
• Counsel to a technology company for legislative and regulatory issues concerning telecommunications and privacy.
• Advising trade associations and technology companies on comments for federal agency rulemakings. 
• Advising a major platform on data portability issues, including privacy, cybersecurity, and antitrust implications.
• Serving as an expert witness on privacy and cybersecurity issues, including for a high-profile EU case examining the adequacy of U.S. protection of personal data.

Peter Swire is senior counsel on Alston & Bird’s Privacy, Cyber & Data Strategy Team and research director of the Cross-Border Data Forum. He has been widely recognized for global contributions to the field. In 2019, the Future of Privacy Forum honored him for Outstanding Academic Scholarship. In 2018, he was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for his project on cross-border data flows, and in 2015, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (with over 80,000 members) awarded Peter its annual Privacy Leadership Award. 

Peter’s government roles include serving as one of five members of President Obama’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, which was formed after the Edward Snowden revelations. Under President Clinton, Peter was the chief privacy counselor in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. His responsibilities included serving as the White House lead on the HIPAA Privacy Rule, chairing a White House task force on how to update wiretap laws for the Internet, and serving on the negotiating team for the Safe Harbor agreement with the European Union. He also served under President Obama as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

Peter is the J.Z. Liang Chair in the Georgia Tech School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, and is a professor of Law & Ethics in the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business.

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Georgia

Education

• Yale University (J.D., 1985)
• Princeton University (B.A., 1980)

Memberships