Our Work
Founded in 2014, the Center on Privacy & Technology is a leader at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, and civil rights.
Latest Work
WIRED: ICE is Grabbing Data from Schools and Abortion Clinics
Executive Director Emily Tucker was quoted in WIRED for an article about ICE surveillance. Tucker said, "I can’t help but feel that the federal government is using ICE as a data vacuum. They are looking for any way to access and integrate all kinds of data into massive databases."
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.
Further Comments of Support for the Stop Discrimination by Algorithms Act
The Center submitted a letter to the Federal Trade Commission's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security, a key proceeding with the potential to establish long-needed protections from abusive business practices enabled by the mass collection of personal data. The Center's comments urged the Commission to keep three specific contexts of surveillance-fueled harm and injustice in mind in its rulemaking determinations, namely worker surveillance, immigrant surveillance, and systems of policing and punishment.
Op-Ed: The Cruel New Era of Data-Driven Deportation
Founding Director Alvaro Bedoya wrote a piece in Slate on why people should care about Palantir's direct listing and what it means for immigrants and the native-born alike.
New Privacy Center Report Shows ICE Surveillance Affects a Majority of Americans
The Privacy Center published "American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century." Authored by Policy Associate Nina Wang, Research Fellow Allison McDonald, Research Coordinator Dan Bateyko, and Executive Director Emily Tucker, the report is the first to quantify the scope of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's widespread surveillance practices. Read the full press release.
Op-Ed: Selling Utility Data to ICE Restricts Access to Essential Utilities
Policy Associate Nina Wang published an op-ed in The Boston Globe urging lawmakers to take action and protect people living in the U.S. from ICE’s collection of utility data.
“Stopping DHS Domestic Surveillance: An Action Plan for the Biden Administration” blog
Senior Associate Harrison Rudolph published a blog detailing how President Biden should dismantle the surveillance agency the Department of Homeland Security has become under President Trump. Read the whole blog here.
Panel: Tracking ICE Surveillance
Policy Associate Nina Wang participated in a panel hosted at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law entitled "Charlas on Migration: Tracking ICE Surveillance." The discussion focused on ICE's use of surveillance technology in modern immigration policing practices.
Coalition Letter to the DHS to End Biased Profiling and In Support of Surveillance Reforms
The Center joined 21 other organizations in a letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) urging greater transparency around DHS's collection and usage of data, as well as the termination of programs such as social media monitoring, the purchasing of privately-held data, and programs claiming to prevent fraud, violence, or domestic terrorism.
Associate Cynthia Khoo Interviewed for the National Post in an Article About Government Oversight
Associate Cynthia Khoo was interview for the National Post, "Pervasive role of algorithms in daily life raises concerns over need for government oversight."