Adam Tanner is the author of What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data—Lifeblood of Big Business—and the End of Privacy as We Know, a fellow Harvard University’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and a columnist for Forbes. Before talking about what corporate America is doing with our data, he offered up the first line of his obituary and his favorite Vegas buffet in the Zócalo green room.
What’s the first line of your obituary?
Veteran correspondent Adam Tanner, who later wrote several books about the business of personal data, has died on Thursday.
What does it take to get you out on a dance floor?
That’s basically an impossible task.
How many pairs of shoes do you own?
Thirty.
What technological gadget can you not live without?
My electric guitar.
What kind of guitar do you have?
I have a number of electric guitars. [What’s your favorite?] I have several jazz electric guitars.
What was the last thing that inspired you?
I just received an e-mail from Gay Talese, one of the great nonfiction writers. There’s a whole group of great writers who know how to bring the reality of our world into exciting narrative books. And so just thinking of him was a moment of inspiration. And there are many others who have also inspired me as I write nonfiction.
What’s the dumbest thing people do when it comes to their data?
They post something thinking that it’ll be limited to one very specific use, not understanding that it will be spread to many different places. That could apply, for example, to a dating profile.
Where would you like to travel to next?
I can tell you where I’m actually traveling to next; that might be interesting. The international privacy commissioners are meeting for their annual convention, and they’ve invited me to speak to them. Last year the convention was in Warsaw; this year they’ve decided to hold it in Mauritius, the island off the coast of Madagascar.
Do you have a favorite Las Vegas buffet?
Yes. There is a great all-you-can-eat-sushi buffet that’s off the Strip, sort of far away and unknown by tourists, which has excellent food and is pretty much a place favored by locals.
Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Saturday morning?
Maybe playing tennis or in the gym.