Our Work
Founded in 2014, the Center on Privacy & Technology is a leader at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, and civil rights.
Latest Work
“What’s past is prologue, present, and future” blog
Associate Jameson Spivack published a blog post about the plethora of harms and flaws of predictive policing. Read the whole blog here.
Op-Ed: Selling Utility Data to ICE Restricts Access to Essential Utilities (X)
Associate Jameson Spivack was quoted in The Sunday Times about potential police use of face recognition technology in Ireland.
Testimony to the House of Commons of Canada on Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology
Associate Cynthia Khoo appeared before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on March 21, 2022, testifying on police use of facial recognition technology based on her work as a Research Fellow at the Citizen Lab (University of Toronto). Khoo raised key concerns with facial recognition and algorithmic policing technologies, including systemic discrimination, constitutionality, transparency and accountability, and reliance of law enforcement on private sector commercial vendors.
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.
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.
“How police get technology without paying for it” blog
Associate Clare Garvie published a blog detailing how tech companies are giving police departments free surveillance technology and the effects of this exchange. Read the whole blog here.
60 Minutes Highlights Police Face Recognition Technology
CBS 60 Minutes profiled the use of face recognition by police in the wake of three publicized misidentifications resulting from the technology. Senior Associate Clare Garvie was interviewed.
PBS: How Racial Biases can Corrupt Facial Recognition Technology
PBS NOVA produced a segment on police face recognition risks, highlighting the misidentification of Detroit resident Michael Oliver. Senior Associate Clare Garvie was interviewed.
The State of Face Recognition in America Webinar
A student chapter of AI4ALL, a US-based nonprofit dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in AI research and policy, invited Senior Associate Clare Garvie to give a webinar with Emiliano Falcon-Morano of ACLU-MA on face recognition use by police.
A Taxonomy of Police Technology’s Racial Inequity Problems
Associate Director Laura Moy published an article in the University of Illinois Law Review titled "A Taxonomy of Police Technology's Racial Inequity Problems." Her article details the ways police surveillance technology can worsen racial inequity and suggests new ways to evaluate such technologies.