As the digital world evolves, government regulations have to evolve with it, Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of cloud-based content management company Box Inc., told CNBC in an interview with Jim Cramer.
“I think we’re in an incredibly precarious time because you have a lot of regulations and laws that were built for the 20th century and now, in the 21st century, with the amount of digital transformation that’s happening in every industry … we need a new set of laws that anticipate how much more dynamic this environment is that we live in today,” Levie told the “Mad Money” host.
From health care to voting to transportation, consumer-facing industries are undergoing wholesale technological changes and upgrades, Levie said.
As more companies embrace private and public clouds, update their cybersecurity measures and exponentially grow their data stores, cloud companies like Box should take a “leadership position” in ensuring that the digital universe is well-regulated, the CEO said.
“We’re not shying away from regulation,” Levie said, noting that “in a digital age,” data security and protection has to remain paramount when it comes to large enterprises.
“Our job is to make sure that when we’re working with incredibly large enterprises or governments, companies like General Electric or Coca-Cola or Procter & Gamble or Pfizer, that we give them all the protection they need to be able to securely manage and store their data while also ensuring that it stays private and that it complies with all of the different requirements that they have from a regulatory standpoint,” Levie told Cramer.
Levie also voiced concern around consumer data, a topic that has frequented headlines since news broke that social media giant Facebook gave third-party companies access to user data.
“There aren’t a lot of regulations that apply to: how should we get our news? How should we be leveraging the information that we put into consumer social media platforms?” the CEO said.
“Do you actually know what information you have on the internet? Do you have full control of how it gets used?” he continued. “Our promise and commitment to our customers is that we want to make sure you have 100 percent control of your data. It is your data. You get to decide how it gets used, how it gets shared and when you share it.”
Box’s stock dipped slightly in Wednesday’s trading session, closing down 0.76 percent at $23.58 a share. The stock has struggled to recover since Box’s latest earnings report, which disappointed Wall Street despite topping expectations.
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