Within New Foundations, Debbie Reynolds leads TRACER, a human-centered privacy framework developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary group of privacy, technology, governance, legal, and industry professionals from around the world.

TRACER helps organizations identify and fill privacy gaps across laws, regulations, standards, governance models, and technical frameworks. Organizations can use it now to examine any technology or system that collects, uses, shares, stores, or processes data, including artificial intelligence systems.

Primary Button: Read the TRACER White Paper
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11692579

TRACER is part of a broader IEEE Industry Connections effort.

The organizational structure is:

IEEE Industry Connections

New Foundations of Trust in Digital Communication, Interactions, and Transactions

TRACER

The New Foundations activity brings together professionals focused on strengthening trust in digital communication, interactions, and transactions. TRACER advances that work by providing a structured, human-centered approach to privacy.

The project reflects more than four years of research, development, discussion, and global collaboration.

What Is TRACER?

TRACER stands for:

Transparency
Risks
Accountability
Control
Ethics
Reliability

TRACER is a human-centered privacy framework created to identify and fill gaps that can exist between privacy laws, regulations, standards, governance models, and technical frameworks.

Privacy is the foundation and purpose of TRACER.

The framework provides a structured way to examine privacy throughout the data lifecycle, with particular attention to how data practices and technology systems affect people.

Why TRACER Matters

Organizations frequently rely on multiple laws, regulations, standards, governance models, and technical frameworks to manage privacy. These resources may address different requirements, technologies, risks, and jurisdictions, leaving gaps between them.

TRACER provides a structured way to identify and examine those gaps.

The framework is:

Data-focused: It follows how data is collected, used, shared, stored, processed, and governed.
Technology-agnostic: It can be applied to any technology or connected system, including AI systems.
Legal-agnostic: It can be used across laws, regulatory environments, industries, and jurisdictions.
Human-centered: It considers how data practices and technology decisions affect people.

The First Public TRACER White Paper

The first public white paper about the TRACER project is now available through IEEE:

“TRACER: Assessment and Readiness Questionnaire for Human-Centered Connected Systems”

The white paper introduces a practical privacy assessment and readiness questionnaire that organizations can begin using immediately.

The questionnaire can help organizations:

Examine privacy throughout the data lifecycle
Identify potential privacy gaps and areas of risk
Evaluate how data practices and technologies affect people
Support collaboration among privacy, legal, technical, governance, risk, and business teams
Strengthen transparency, accountability, control, ethics, and reliability
Develop a clearer understanding of organizational privacy readiness

Read and download the white paper free through IEEE Xplore:
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11692579

Who Can Use TRACER?

TRACER can support professionals and organizations working in:

Privacy and data protection
Artificial intelligence and emerging technology
Data governance
Cybersecurity
Risk and compliance
Legal and regulatory affairs
Product development
Technology governance
Responsible innovation
Organizational leadership

Organizations of different sizes, industries, and jurisdictions can use TRACER to examine technologies and systems that collect, use, share, store, or process data.

Debbie Reynolds’s Leadership

Debbie Reynolds, Founder and CEO of Debbie Reynolds Consulting LLC and known professionally as “The Data Diva,” leads the TRACER privacy framework effort within the IEEE Industry Connections New Foundations activity.

For over four years, Reynolds has guided the development of TRACER while collaborating with a multidisciplinary group of professionals from around the world.

Her leadership of TRACER builds on more than 20 years of work at the intersection of privacy, emerging technology, AI governance, data governance, cybersecurity, and risk.

What Comes Next

The first TRACER white paper is the initial public resource in a broader, multiphase project conducted through IEEE Industry Connections.

Additional work and resources are planned as TRACER continues to develop. Organizations can begin using the current privacy assessment and readiness questionnaire now and stay informed about future TRACER publications, tools, and developments.

Learn More and Get Involved

Read the TRACER white paper through IEEE Xplore:
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11692579

Learn about the IEEE Industry Connections New Foundations activity:
https://standards.ieee.org/industry-connections/activities/new-foundations-of-trust-in-digital-communication-interactions-and-transactions/

Express interest in participating:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019d63cfa2e577af82f1e21fedfad18b

When completing the interest form, select White Papers if prompted to choose a group.

Official Citation

D. Reynolds; V. Venkatasubramanian; R. Chellappan; A. Singh, “TRACER: Assessment and Readiness Questionnaire for Human-Centered Connected Systems,” in TRACER: Assessment and Readiness Questionnaire for Human-Centered Connected Systems, pp. 1-20, September 16, 2026.

About Debbie Reynolds Consulting LLC

Debbie Reynolds Consulting LLC advises organizations on complex issues involving data privacy, emerging technology, AI governance, data governance, cybersecurity, and risk.

Founder and CEO Debbie Reynolds brings more than 20 years of experience helping organizations understand how legal, technical, governance, and business decisions affect privacy and people.

https://www.debbiereynoldsconsulting.com

www.debbiereynoldsconsulting.com

About‍ ‍Contact‍ ‍Access Our LinkTree

datadiva@debbiereynoldsconsulting.com
1-312-513-3665

*”The Data Diva” and Data Diva Media is a Trademark of Debbie Reynolds and Debbie Reynolds Consulting LLC

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