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FORTUNE.COM // JANUARY 2020
PRIVACY
STYLE
CEOs Feel Climate
Pressure at Home
Business leaders are being pushed to act on
climate change by their children.
By Katherine Dunn
SENATE WATCHES
THE RING
A SERIES of reports
has revealed that
employees of Amazon’s
Ring security camera
product, both in the U.S.
and abroad, had access
to users’ unencrypted
videos. So do police,
with surprisingly few
restrictions. Ring
also appears to have
been pursuing facial-
recognition technology,
and had drawn up
plans to create “watch
lists” of “suspicious”
people. That dystopian
agenda has made Ring
a target for activists
as well as the U.S.
Senate. A group of five
Democratic senators
wrote Jeff Bezos late
last year asking for an
explanation of Ring’s
security and privacy
practices. Ring says
it complies with all
applicable privacy laws.
Watch for Ring and
similar companies like
Nest to come under
increased scrutiny
this year.
—DAVID Z. MORRISACTIVISM WHEN THE CONCEPT of “flying shame”—
embarrassment over flying owing to its
carbon footprint—began to catch on, the CEO of Air
France wasn’t new to the idea. Anne Rigail had
already faced pressure at home from her “three
activists”: her two children and her husband.
“It’s very good, because I was not at all surprised
by this whole thing about ‘flight shaming,’ ” she says.
“I think it’s our biggest challenge.”
Call it the Greta Thunberg phenomenon: When
it comes to taking
action on climate
change, kids—in
particular—may
well be CEOs’ great-
est critics.
“I’m hearing it
from many [execu-
tives],” says Chris-
tiana Figueres,
founding partner
of the NGO Global
Optimism. “Because
some of these kids
are out in the streets,
demonstrating—and
some are demon-
strating over the
dinner table, asking
their parents what
they’re doing—what
are they truly do-
ing—for their kids’
future.”
As for Rigail, she
says Air France aims
to lower its carbon
emissions by 50%
per passenger/km by
2030, from a base-
line in 2005. Asked
if her activists were
satisfied with her
efforts, she admitted:
“Not yet.”THE GRATEFUL DEAD and conspicuous
consumption are terms that don’t pair
well, but the homemade tie-dyed culture found
at Deadhead tailgates has officially gone high-
fashion. While Prada sells $2,480 tie-dyed dresses
on Net-a-Porter, companies that got their start
selling bootleg T-shirts outside those Dead shows
have quickly found themselves participating in GQ
spreads. Online Ceramics, often referred to as the
Supreme of Shakedown Street, sells out of its $
shirts within minutes of posting them on its charm-
ingly rustic website. —NICOLE GOODKINDCRUST Y
NO MORE:
DEADHEAD
THREADS
ARE HIGH
FASHION
Dropout
culture
for the
in-crowd.