Kenneth C. Laudon was an American professor of Information Systems at the Stern School of Business at New York University and a leading scholar on the social, political, and economic impacts of information technology. He earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Laudon authored several influential books examining computing, democracy, and privacy, including Computers and Bureaucratic Reform, Communications Technology and Democratic Participation, and Dossier Society, in which he introduced the concept of data-driven identity. His widely cited article Markets and Privacy proposed that individuals hold property rights over their personal information, a foundational idea in modern privacy debates. He also co-authored major textbooks such as Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm and E-commerce. Business. Technology. Society, used internationally. Laudon remained an influential voice in information systems scholarship until his death in 2019.