Why We Built Ethyca House at IAPP GPS
Ethyca House opens March 30 and 31 in Washington DC, two blocks from IAPP GPS. A private space, exceptional coffee, and the conversations that don't happen on the conference floor.
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that sets in at a conference like IAPP GPS.
It is not physical. It is the exhaustion of being sold to, continuously, by people who have reduced one of the most important challenges in enterprise technology to a tagline and a booth. Privacy, or AI governance, as a feature. Privacy as a promise. Privacy as something you can buy, deploy, and check off a list.
We have spent years at Ethyca doing the opposite. Building infrastructure. Solving the kind of problems that don't fit on a slide deck and don't resolve in a 30-minute demo. We work with companies like Condé Nast, The New York Times, and Ramp. We process 750 million data preferences annually. We have saved our customers more than $75 million in privacy automation.
We do not have a booth at GPS.
This year, instead, we built something else entirely.
A Different Kind of Presence
Ethyca House opens March 30 and 31 at 901 K St NW in Washington DC — two blocks from the Marriott Marquis, four minutes from the lobby. A private space, designed for GPS attendees, built around one idea: the conversations that actually move this industry forward do not happen on the expo floor.
They happen in smaller rooms. Over better coffee. Between people who are done performing and ready to think.
An Oasis in the Middle of GPS
GPS is relentless. Back-to-back sessions, a packed expo hall, and the constant background noise of vendors competing for attention. By midmorning on day one, most attendees are already running on fumes.
Ethyca House is the antidote to that.
We partnered with For Five Coffee — the best espresso in DC — to create a space that is genuinely worth the two-block walk. Warm food, reserved tables, and quiet. A place to recharge between sessions, take a call without competing with a keynote, or meet a colleague without booking a hotel lobby. No demos running in the background. No pitch decks on screens.
Just a well-designed room, exceptional coffee, and the kind of calm that a conference this size rarely makes room for. It is free. It is for GPS attendees only.
The conversations that actually move this industry forward do not happen on the expo floor. They happen in smaller rooms. Over better coffee. Between people who are done performing and ready to think. Join us.”Ethyca Team
The Conversations
Alongside the open space, we are hosting two behind-closed-doors roundtables that we believe are among the most important conversations happening at GPS this year.
On March 30, Julie Brill — former FTC Commissioner, former Microsoft CPO, and Ethyca board member — leads a private session on Deregulation, Disruption, and the Privacy Leader's Playbook for 2026. The regulatory pressure has eased. The internal argument for investment in governance has not gotten easier. That tension is what the room will dig into.
On March 31, Daniel Weitzner — architect of the Obama Administration's Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and co-author of Section 230 — leads a session called The Data You Can't Take Back: User Rights, AI, and the Promises We Made. Privacy law was built on a promise: ask a company to delete your data, and they will. That promise was written before your data was used to train a model now running in production. The gap between what the law requires and what is technically possible has never been wider.
Why We're Doing This
Privacy is not a product. It is not a feature. It is not something that gets easier with the right software vendor.
It is infrastructure. It has to be built, maintained, governed, and funded — not because a regulator is watching, but because the organizations that get this right will be the ones that earn lasting trust.
Ethyca House is our way of showing up to GPS on those terms. Not louder. Just differently.
Ethyca House Agenda
March 30 & 31 901 K St NW, Washington DC
Monday March 30
- 6:00am — Run Club. A 12K morning run around the Lincoln Memorial, finishing at Ethyca House. The best way to start a conference day we know of.
- 8:00 – 9:00am — Private Pharma & Healthcare Breakfast.
- 9:00am – 2:15pm — Doors open. Free espresso, warm food, reserved exec tables. Come for thirty minutes or stay for the morning.
- 3:30 – 5:00pm — Behind-closed-doors roundtable: Julie Brill on Deregulation, Disruption, and the Privacy Leader's Playbook for 2026.
- 4:30 – 7:00pm — Happy hour. Patio opens at 4:30, moves indoors as the roundtable wraps. A proper end to day one.
Tuesday March 31
- 6:00am — Run Club. A 12K morning run around the Lincoln Memorial, finishing at Ethyca House.
- 8:00 – 9:00am — Private Financial Services Breakfast.
- 9:00am – 3:00pm — Doors open. Free espresso, warm food, reserved exec tables.
- 3:30 – 5:00pm — Behind-closed-doors roundtable: Daniel Weitzner on The Data You Can't Take Back: User Rights, AI, and the Promises We Made.
- 4:30 – 7:00pm — Happy hour. Patio into indoors. A proper end to GPS.
Ethyca House is open March 30 and 31 at 901 K St NW in Washington DC, two blocks from the Marriott Marquis. Free espresso, warm food, and reserved table slots for IAPP GPS attendees. Capacity is limited. Reserve your table now: https://luma.com/cixfjpcs
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