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 Files Location Privacy Complaint with FCC
The Center filed under the Freedom of Information Act requests showed that ICE had asked at least three states that offer undocumented people driver’s licenses to run face recognition searches of their DMV photos. The documents were released via an exclusive with The Washington Post.
Center Associate Endorses Wasserman Bill
Associate Harrison Rudolph endorsed Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's (D-FL) bill, the Families, Not Facilities Act. The bill would prohibit the use of children's information to find and deport their loved ones.
Federal Law Pauses Parent Trap
A federal law was signed prohibiting the use of children's information for deportation purposes until September 30, as part of the 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. The law followed a November 2018 letter, coordinated by the Center and co-signed by 111 other NGOs, calling for the termination of an interagency agreement that used children's information to find and deport their relatives.
Coalition Letter to DHS and HHS About Both Agencies’ Parent Trap
The Center coordinated a letter to the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security calling for the rescission of an interagency agreement that uses children's information to deport their relatives. 111 other civil rights and civil liberties organizations signed on to the letter, which received coverage in the Associated Press.
Coalition Comments to DHS & HHS on Unaccompanied Immigrant Children
The Center drafted, organized, and filed comments, signed by thirteen other organizations, regarding the administration's use of children's information to deport their relatives. The comments explain that deporting families using information collected to place unaccompanied children is not only inhumane, but also unlawful and poor policy.
Extreme Vetting Software Abandoned by ICE
After months of advocacy coordinated by the Center and others in the Immigrant Surveillance Working Group, the Department of Homeland Security formally dropped its "Extreme Vetting Initiative." It would have automatically and continuously scanned American immigrants' social media posts to flag 10,000 individuals annually for deportation investigations.
Bipartisan Senate Oversight Letter of Biometric Exit
Senators Edward Markey (MA) and Mike Lee (UT) sent a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to "stop the expansion" of its Biometric Exit program and to address privacy concerns about the program. The letter cited the Center's December 2017 report on the program, Not Ready for Takeoff, which raised many of the same concerns.
New DHS Program to Scan Americans’ Faces at Airports Riddled with Legal and Technical Problems
On December 21, 2017, the Privacy Center released "Not Ready for Takeoff." Authored by Associate Harrison Rudolph, Deputy Director Laura Moy, and Executive Director Alvaro Bedoya, the report explains that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been scanning of the faces of travelers at eight U.S. airports without legal authorization or technical safeguards. Read the full press release
The Color of Surveillance: Government Monitoring of American Immigrants
The second annual Color of Surveillance conference examined the issue of government surveillance of American immigrants. The event encompassed historical perspectives of immigrant surveillance in the 20th and 21st Centuries and included a discussion with Professor Xiaoxing Xi, a US-based physics professor who was falsely accused of being a spy.
National Civil Rights Leader to Address Georgetown Law Conference on Surveillance of Immigrants
In June 2017, the Privacy Center hosted "The Color of Surveillance: Government Monitoring of American Immigrants." The conference, which featured a keynote address by Vanita Gupta, explored the surveillance of immigrants from the late 19th century to the present. Read the full press release,