Our Work
Founded in 2014, the Center on Privacy & Technology is a leader at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, and civil rights.
Latest Work
Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Re-Releases 2022 Report on ICE Dragnet Surveillance Practices
The Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law re-released “American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century,” with a new foreword in May 2025. The 2022 report was the first to quantify the scope of the surveillance operations being carried out by the federal government through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Today, the Trump administration is using the digital surveillance apparatus the report describes to target immigrants, activists and anyone else who challenges his agenda. Emily Tucker, the Privacy Center’s Executive Director said, “Mass surveillance is fundamentally incompatible with democratic self-governance. The danger of ICE’s data dragnet is not only that individual people will be targeted, but that our ability to act together as a people will be permanently undermined.” The full press advisory is available at this link.
Privacy Center Re-Releases 2022 Report on ICE Dragnet Surveillance Practices
The Privacy Center re-released "American Dragnet: Data Driven Deportation in the 21st Century," the first report to quantify the sweeping surveillance power of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A new foreword situates the findings against the backdrop of ICE's expansive surveillance powers in the control of an increasingly authoritarian regime. Read the full press advisory.
Privacy Center quoted in Mother Jones piece about ICE and FBI use of face recognition at the border
Executive Director Emily Tucker was quoted in a Mother Jones article detailing how ICE and the FBI are using Clearview AI tech for facial recognition at the border. “All of the evidence we have is that [Clearview] is a corporation that cares not at all about civil rights and that their founders have a potentially ideological agenda inconsistent with democracy,” Tucker said.
“Watching the Watchers: Immigration, Surveillance, and the Law” event hosted by American Constitution Society
Associate Emerald Tse was a panelist for "Watching the Watchers: Immigration, Surveillance, and the Law," an event hosted by the student organization American Constitution Society. Emerald framed the discussion by sharing with students the history of surveillance and technology in the US immigration system, while other panelists focused on methods of oversight and legal challenges.
Privacy Center quoted in MSNBC op-ed about ICE and civil liberties
Executive Director Emily Tucker was quoted in Julio Ricardo Varela's op-ed in MSNBC: "The deep roots of ICE's disdain for civil liberties." The quote is from an article in WIRED from 2023 in which Tucker says: "Calling ICE a rogue agency doesn’t even quite get at how bad the problem is with them. They are always pushing to the limits of what they are allowed to do and fudging around the edges without oversight."
Privacy Center Fritz Fellow presented at Tech & Society Week
Postdoctoral Fritz Fellow Marianna Poyares and Fritz team members Ankita Sharma (B.S. Computer Science) and Dorea Marshall (J.D. Law) presented their research to the Georgetown community during Tech and Society week. Their research was on the ethical and legal implications of immigrant surveillance.
“American Dragnet” report cited in the San Francisco Chronicle
Privacy Center Executive Director Emily Tucker spoke with San Francisco Chronicle's Ko Lyn Cheang about a Richmond, CA municipal debit card program for undocumented immigrants that might have created an avenue for federal immigration enforcement to target them. While Tucker was not quoted, the article cited the Privacy Center's report American Dragnet: "A 2021 report, the result of a two-year investigation by Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology, found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had a $21 million contract with a data broker to access more than 400 million names, addresses and utility records."
Privacy Center Associate testified in Maryland Senate and House
Privacy Center Associate Emerald Tse testified in front of the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and House Judiciary Committee in support of bills SB 977 and HB 1431, also known as the Maryland Data Privacy Act. The bill would require ICE to get a warrant in order to access state and local agency data for immigration enforcement. This crucial bill would effectively stop ICE from targeting immigrants.
“ICE and Educators” event hosted by Shift Press
Senior Associate Clarence Okoh provided a tech and surveillance training for educators and young adults on "ICE and Educators" hosted by Shift Press--a Texas-based movement journalism and youth civic engagement organization. Clarence's presentation emphasized how to protect immigrant youth and families from school surveillance.
“Border Solidarity: Transversal Alliances and Defiant Territories” paper published
Our postdoctoral Fritz Fellow Marianna Poyares published a paper on the journal Critical Times (Duke University Press) titled "Border Solidarity: Transversal Alliances and Defiant Territories" about immigrant sanctuary and the foundations of solidarity. Based on four years of ethnographic research with the NYC Sanctuary Movement, she argues for that through transversal alliance-building, sanctuary institutes bonds of community and the legitimate standing of non-citizens.