Our Work
Founded in 2014, the Center on Privacy & Technology is a leader at the intersection of privacy, surveillance, and civil rights.
Latest Work
Statement: Support of the Facial Recognition Act of 2023
Congress proposed a bill to regulate police use of face recognition. Executive Director Emily Tucker made a statement in support of the bill. "The Facial Recognition Act of 2023 takes a powerful stand against the spread of surveillance policing in the United States. As the movement to ban facial recognition builds across the country, Congressman Lieu's bill would set a solid federal floor to limit the harms of this corrupt technology in our communities. With a clear non-preemption statement, a private right of action, strong limits against integrating facial recognition with other surveillance databases and a prohibition on using facial recognition on protestors or for immigration enforcement, this legislation would make it more possible for people harmed by facial recognition to organize against it.
“Meet The Team: Q&A With Brandon” blog
In October 2023, Brandon McClain joined the Privacy Center team as a Justice Fellow. Read our Q&A with him on our blog.
AI Worker Letter to Chuck Schumer
The Center signed onto a joint letter alongside 23 workers' rights, civil rights, and other civil society organizations calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to center workers and protect their rights in his efforts to address advances in artificial intelligence, such as through his "AI Insight Forum" series, which have to date featured a disproportionate concentration of industry representatives compared to civil society, civil rights, or workers' rights representatives. The letter presents several recommendations and calls on Senator Schumer and Congress to "develop a new generation of economic policies and labor rights to prevent corporations like Amazon from leveraging tech-driven worker exploitation into profit and outcompeting rivals by taking the low road".
Georgetown Law Tech Institute Student Mixer
Center on Privacy & Technology staff attended and presented at the Georgetown Law Tech Institute's student mixer on October 5th, 2023. The mixer allows law students to explore the different experiences and organizations available to them at the Law Center.
Op-Ed: It’s family regulation, not a computer glitch
Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson recently published an op-ed, "It's family regulation, not a computer glitch," in the Arizona Daily Star. In the op-ed, Glaberson and her co-author Marshneil Lal write about the implications of the recent revelation by the Arizona Department of Child Safety that for two years, Arizona courts relied on a flawed computer system in as many as 3,800 cases to make decisions about whether Arizona should take children away from their parents. They write "This is not just a story about a data glitch. It’s a revealing story about the "surveillance tentacles" of the state’s “child welfare” system, the pervasive failure of the system to listen to the people it targets, and the ways adding a layer of technology magnifies the system’s harms."
Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
The Center on Privacy & Technology and the International Justice Clinic at UC Irvine Law co-authored a report submitted to United Nations Human Rights Committee arguing that ICE’s dragnet surveillance practices amount to an egregious violation of human rights law, and of US obligations under the ICCPR, specifically under Article 17 which guarantees the right to privacy as a fundamental human right and requires that any state interference with privacy be proscribed by a specific, accessible law, necessary to pursue a legitimate purpose, and proportionate to that purpose. Our report prompted a Human Rights Committee member (Prof. Soh) to show his concern about ICE's dragnet surveillance and asked US delegates, essentially, how the US ensures ICE's practice complies with ICCPR and when the US will legislate federal data privacy law. The Committee’s Concluding Observations on the fifth periodic report of the United States of America explicitly calls out ICE for surveillance practices that conflict with human rights law. This adds international pressure on ICE to stop dragnet surveillance.
“I was a student in NWDLIAFS. Here’s what you missed.” blog
In August 2023, the Privacy Center hosted our first iteration of our three-day mini-course: No, We Don't Live In A F%#*ing Simulation, taught by our Executive Director Emily Tucker and philosopher David N. McNeill. Director of Research and Advocacy Stevie Glaberson attended the mini-course and wrote about it on our blog. Read the whole blog here.
“Digital Payment Apps are Convenient and Accessible — But They’re Not Protecting Our Privacy” blog
In January 2023, a class of plaintiffs represented by immigrant and racial justice organization Just Futures Law sued the Department of Homeland Security and several of the world’s largest money transfer businesses, including Western Union, for engaging in widespread financial surveillance aimed primarily at immigrants in the Southwest. Justice Fellow Meg Foster details the case and the privacy violations of digital payment apps on our blog. Read the whole bloghere.
No, We Don’t Live In A F#%*ing Simulation
Executive Director Emily Tucker and philosopher David McNeill co-taught a virtual mini-course entitled No, We Don’t Live In A F%#*ing Simulation to 34 students exploring the simulation hypothesis, long-termism, and the imminent threat of artificial general intelligence (AGI). The course received 86 applicants coming from academia, government (globally), NGOs and non-profits (globally), law, social work, computer sciene, and private sector. The 34 students represented more than 12 countries. The Center on Privacy & Technology hopes to offer the course again.
Testimony in Support of S.27: An Act to Protect Private Electronic Communication, Browsing and Other Activity
Justice Fellow Meg Foster and Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson submitted written testimony to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity in support of S.27, An Act to protect private electronic communication, browsing, and other activity. The bill establishes warrant and reporting requirements for electronic communication and subscriber records, as well as the use of cell site simulators. It also prohibits law enforcement from requesting, and judges from granting, reverse-location and reverse-keyword requests. The testimony focused on the disparate impact that the dragnet surveillance tools and techniques regulated in S.27 have on marginalized communities, including on their First Amendment rights.