Our Work
Founded in 2014, the Center on Privacy & Technology is a leader at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, and civil rights.
Latest Work
Privacy Center sues Department of Homeland Security
The Privacy Center, together with Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and Americans for Immigrant Justice, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This legal action is in reaction to DHS’s failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding how DHS collects, stores, and uses DNA samples taken from non-citizens. Read the full press advisory.
“Sam Altman’s World: Sometimes Things Are Just What They Seem to Be” Article in Tech Policy Press
Privacy Center Executive Director, Emily Tucker, co-authored a piece in Tech Policy Press with philosopher David McNeill, warning of the dangers of Sam Altman’s new Tools for Humanity technology. Sam Altman is “nothing special,” they say. “He is the kind of person who inevitably rises in an extractivist economic system that transparently rewards those who show contempt for laws, regulations, and the people who enact them.”
“Global Landscapes on Data Privacy: The Brazilian National Authority on Data Protection” event hosted by the Privacy Center
From banning Sam Altman’s “Tools for Humanity” iris-scanning crypto project, to stopping Meta from mining user data for training AI, Brazil has been a global trailblazer in issues of privacy and data protection. On April 24, the Director of the Brazilian National Authority for Data Protection, Professor Iagê Miola, joined us for a conversation about the hemispheric landscapes of data protection. Dr. Marianna Poyares, Postdoc Fritz Fellow at the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law moderated.
Privacy Center filed an amicus brief with the Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic
The Center on Privacy & Technology filed an amicus brief with the Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic in Commonwealth v. Rodriguez (SJC-13727). The brief supports the defendant-appellee’s objection to the use of racially-targeted police investigatory techniques on social media platforms.
Privacy Center jointly submitted report to the UN Human Rights Council
The Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law and seven other organizations jointly submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council, “Entrenching Authoritarianism: Expanding the Terrorism Framework and the Infrastructure of Surveillance to Repress Expression and Stifle Dissent.” The report shows the surveillance system available to the Trump administration and its use to repress freedom of expression. Truthout covered the release in this piece, “Rights Groups Detail “Authoritarian” Reality of US Surveillance in Report to UN.”
Privacy Center Fritz Fellow presented at 2025 STS Hub “Diffracting the Critical”
Dr. Marianna Poyares was one of the panelists of the 2025 STS Hub, taking place at the Humboldt Universität in Berlin March 11 - 14. Her presentation "The border at the center: why a critical STS must grapple with border enforcement" argues that new technologies of border and immigration enforcement consist of some of the most extreme forms of surveillance and data extraction, disregarding individual and human rights protections, as they operate within the normative equivalent of a state of exception.
Privacy Center Senior Associate featured on a panel at University of Maryland School of Law
Senior Associate Clarence Okoh was invited to speak at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law at a symposium hosted by the Maryland Journal of Race, Religion, Gender, and Class. The symposium focused on the impact of technology on race, religion, and gender with panels of speakers dedicated to each topic. Okoh was on a panel titled "Panel on Race, Technology, and the Law" with Chaz Arnett, Margaret Hu, and Jessica Eaglin.
“When AI Eats the Manager” event co-sponsored by Privacy Center and Fairwork
The Privacy Center co-sponsored a launch event with Fairwork for their new report "When AI Eats the Manager." The event featured speakers Veena Dubal (University of California, Irvine), Mark Graham (University of Oxford), David Seligman (Towards Justice), Funda Ustek Spilda (King’s College, London), and Katie J. Wells (Groundwork Collaborative) who discussed the reports findings.
The Privacy Center at the Center & Institutes open house at Georgetown Law
The Privacy Center attended the Georgetown Law Center Centers & Institutes Open House event, an annual event for current students that showcases the work of the Law Center's Centers & Institutes. The Privacy Center had a table at the event and spoke with students about the Privacy Center's work and how to get involved.
“Seeking the Good and the Real in An Algorithmic Age” event hosted by the Privacy Center
On February 20, 2025 the Privacy Center hosted an event titled "Seeking the Good and the Real in an Algorithmic Age" which featured a conversation between Privacy Center Advisor Board member Antón Barba-Kay and Lowry Pressly. The two discussed their recent books: A Web of Our Own Making: The Nature of Digital Formation and The Right to Oblivion: Privacy and the Good Life, by Barba-Kay and Pressly respectively.