Our Work
Founded in 2014, the Center on Privacy & Technology is a leader at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, and civil rights.
Latest Work
“Our remarks from a White House meeting on international human rights treaty compliance” blog
In 2023, dozens of organizations submitted reports to the Human Rights Committee documenting serious deficiencies in the U.S.’s compliance with the requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. On behalf of the coalition’s working group on privacy, freedom of expression, assembly and association, Director of Research and Advocacy Stevie Glaberson spoke at a White House meeting to cover all of the concerns of all 25 working group members. You can read the full text of her remarks, prepared together with partners at The Center for Constitutional Rights, Asian Law Caucus, UC Irvine School of Law, and input from the full working group, at our blog.
“The Past is Here: How Historical Workplace Surveillance Practices Show Up Today” blog
On April 10, 2024, the Center on Privacy & Technology co-hosted a panel with United for Respect, and the Athena Coalition in which the panelists illustrated, through stories like the one above, how contemporary workplace surveillance policies are repeating patterns from the past. Justice Fellow Brandon McClain summarized four key takeaways on our blog. Read the whole blog here.
“Shadow Report to the US AI Policy Roadmap”
The Center signed on to coalition report, along with 39 others, that aimed to combat the inaccurate way in which the Senate positioned their roadmap as a starting point for understanding AI concerns. The "Shadow Report to the US AI Policy Roadmap" points out that this process has eaten up a year of this legislative session to produce yet another roadmap that superficially namechecks issues, instead of actual progress towards enforceable law.
Comments to the Department of Health and Human Services
The Privacy Center co-authored with Upturn a comment to the US Department of Health and Human Services on a proposed update to the agency’s regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, arguing that the proposed rule is incomplete because it fails to address the sites in the system where most discrimination occurs: reporting, screening, and investigation. Our comment also highlights how agencies may use algorithmic and data-driven tools that contribute to disability discrimination and provides recommendations to address discrimination at the front end of the system.
AI Worker Letter to Chuck Schumer
The Center signed onto a joint letter alongside 23 workers' rights, civil rights, and other civil society organizations calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to center workers and protect their rights in his efforts to address advances in artificial intelligence, such as through his "AI Insight Forum" series, which have to date featured a disproportionate concentration of industry representatives compared to civil society, civil rights, or workers' rights representatives. The letter presents several recommendations and calls on Senator Schumer and Congress to "develop a new generation of economic policies and labor rights to prevent corporations like Amazon from leveraging tech-driven worker exploitation into profit and outcompeting rivals by taking the low road".
Letter to the FTC on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking
The Center signed onto a joint letter alongside 40 civil rights and technology policy advocacy organizations calling on the Federal Trade Commission to define discrimination as an unfair practice and to require testing of algorithmic systems for discrimination, as part of the Commission's Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Rulemaking. The letter also provided several recommendations for the FTC to develop concrete and specific protections for civil rights.
Comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The Center signed onto joint comments spearheaded by the Athena Coalition, submitted to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's Request for Information on Automated Worker Surveillance and Management. The submission, which Senior Associate Cynthia Khoo (among others) reviewed and provided feedback on, focuses on the harmful impacts of ubiquitous surveillance and punitive automated management at Amazon on its warehouse workers and delivery drivers. The comments also include a number of recommendations to the Biden-Harris administration to implement in protecting workers from continued exploitation through automated surveillance and management.
Letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Center signed on to a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) urging them to regulate the sale of "credit header" data, including names, addresses, and other sensitive personal information, which data brokers have purchased from sources like essential utility companies and sold to police and immigration enforcement. The letter's release was covered by WIRED.
Response to President Biden’s AI Executive Order
The Privacy Center signed on to comments relating to OMB's guidance following the Biden AI EO. Comments were written by Just Futures Law, Surveillance Resistance Lab, UCLA Center on Race and Digital Justice, Mijente and Media Justice, many of whom have been and continue to be partners in Privacy Center efforts. The comments focused on the OMB guidance specifically as it relates to DHS and federal acquisition and use of AI impacting immigrant communities.
Op-Ed: New Jersey Should Restrict Law Enforcement’s Use of Facial Recognition Technology
The Center joined fifteen civil and digital rights groups in signing a letter and op-ed opposing law enforcement use of facial recognition technology in New Jersey. The letter highlights various harms that would result from law enforcement use of facial recognition technology, including an expansion to the over policing of Black and Brown communities.