IBM Names Peters New Chief Privacy Officer

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) appointed Christina Peters, a lawyer, as its second chief privacy officer, responsible for the global company’s information policy and practices.

Peters has been on the legal staff of the Armonk, N.Y., computer company since 1996, dealing with a broad range of problems including cybersecurity, policy, transactions, compliance and litigation.

She moved to the IBM privacy unit in 2010 under her predecessor, Harriet Pearson, now back in private law practice. Pearson was appointed IBM’s first chief privacy officer in 2000.

Peters noted in an IBM blog that companies better understand customers with data analytics now but “risks to privacy are real. It’s important for sensitive personal information to be protected and for people to be aware of how information they share will be used, so they can make decisions about what’s OK with them and what isn’t.”

Two major technology giants, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), the No. 1 search engine, and Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, have recently signed consent decrees with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission after they were found to have misued sensitive information.

Google, of Mountain View, Calif., paid a record fine of $22.5 million, while Facebook has agreed to be monitored for the next 20 years.

A Dartmouth College alumna, IBM’s Peters graduated from Harvard Law School in 1990, served as a clerk to a judge and then worked for Covington & Burling, the large corporate law firm.

She also was a Robert Bosch Fellow in Germany, where she worked at the cartel authority, as well as at Deutsche Telekom (PINK: DTEGY).

Shares of IBM rose $1.45 to $210.38 in Tuesday trading, just below their 52-week high set on Oct. 5.