Center on Privacy and Technology

{{Infobox organization

| name = Center on Privacy and Technology

| formation = 2014

| type = Policy think tank

| parent_organization = Georgetown University Law Center

| founder = Alvaro Bedoya

| leader_name = Emily Tucker

| leader_title = Director

| location = Washington, D.C.

| website = {{URL|https://www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-technology-center/}}

}}

The Georgetown Center on Privacy and Technology is a think tank at Georgetown University in Washington, DC dedicated to the study of privacy and technology. Established in 2014, it is housed within the Georgetown University Law Center.{{cite news |last1=Ho |first1=Catherine |title=Georgetown Law, MIT team up to tackle topic of privacy in the age of big data |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/at-georgetown-law-efforts-to-close-gap-between-law-tech/2015/01/09/4724ea10-951e-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html |access-date=12 September 2021 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=11 January 2015}} The goal of the Center is to conduct research and empower legal and legislative advocacy around issues of privacy and surveillance, with a focus on how such issues affect groups of different social class and race.{{cite web |title=Center on Privacy and Technology |url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-technology-center/ |website=www.law.georgetown.edu |access-date=12 March 2021}} In May 2022, the Center's founding director Alvaro Bedoya was confirmed as a commissioner of the United States Federal Trade Commission.{{cite web |title=U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 2nd Session |url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1172/vote_117_2_00169.htm |website=www.senate.gov |access-date=29 November 2022 |date=11 May 2022}}

Activities

=Surveillance=

The Center hosts an annual conference titled "The Color of Surveillance" which explored how government and technological surveillance affected different marginalized populations, including Black Americans, immigrants to the United States, religious minorities, and poor and working people.{{cite web |title=The Color of Surveillance: Government Monitoring of the African American Community |url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-technology-center/events/2016-conference/ |website=www.law.georgetown.edu |access-date=26 March 2021}}

In May 2022, the Center on Privacy and Technology published American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century, a report detailing how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has built a far-reaching surveillance system by accessing driver’s license databases, utility records, and purchasing data from commercial brokers, often without judicial oversight.{{cite web |title=American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century |url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-technology-center/publications/american-dragnet-data-driven-deportation-in-the-21st-century/ |website=Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology |access-date=2024-06-17}} The report found that ICE's surveillance practices affect the majority of adults in the United States.{{cite web |title=American Dragnet |url=https://americandragnet.org/ |website=American Dragnet |publisher=Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology |access-date=2024-06-17}} The findings of American Dragnet prompted significant congressional attention. In a House Judiciary Committee hearing titled Digital Dragnets: Examining the Government's Access to Your Personal Data, Representative Zoe Lofgren submitted the American Dragnet report into the hearing record. {{cite web |title=Digital Dragnets: Examining the Government’s Access to Your Personal Data |url=https://www.congress.gov/event/117th-congress/house-event/115009/text |website=Congress.gov |access-date=2024-06-17}} In September 2022, U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Ron Wyden sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging the agency to cease its use of invasive surveillance technologies, including facial recognition and the purchase of commercial data. The Senators described ICE’s surveillance network as "Orwellian" and raised concerns about its broad civil rights implications.{{cite press release |title=Senators Markey and Wyden Urge ICE to End “Orwellian” Use of Facial Recognition and Surveillance Technology |url=https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-and-wydenurge-ice-to-end-orwellian-use-of-facial-recognition-and-surveillance-technology |publisher=Office of Senator Edward J. Markey |date=2022-09-13 |access-date=2024-06-17}}

=Facial recognition=

The Center has collaborated with many advocacy organizations, including the ACLU, the Algorithmic Justice League, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as part of campaigns raising awareness about the use of facial recognition by the government.

In 2016, the Center published a report called The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America which documents the widespread unregulated use of facial recognition by law enforcement across the United States.{{Cite web|title=The Perpetual Line-Up|url=https://www.perpetuallineup.org/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-18|website=Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law|publisher=|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018214913/https://www.perpetuallineup.org/ |archive-date=2016-10-18 }}{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Patricia J. |title=Americans Are Finding New Ways to Join the Surveillance State |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/americans-are-finding-new-ways-to-join-the-surveillance-state/ |access-date=13 March 2021 |work=The Nation |date=7 November 2016}} In 2018, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Center against the New York Police Department revealed that facial recognition scans were being run on mugshots of every arrestee.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Stephen Rex |title=NYPD ripped for abusing facial-recognition tool |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-ripped-abusing-facial-recognition-tool-article-1.3847796 |access-date=12 September 2021 |work=NY Daily News |date=1 March 2018}} A subsequent report in 2019, "Garbage In, Garbage Out: Face Recognition on Flawed Data" documented multiple cases of police departments attempting to identify suspects using hand-drawn sketches, highly edited photos, and photos of celebrity lookalikes.{{Cite web|title=Garbage In. Garbage Out. Face Recognition on Flawed Data|url=https://www.flawedfacedata.com/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-18|website=Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516143756/https://www.flawedfacedata.com/ |archive-date=2019-05-16 }}{{cite news |last1=Ng |first1=Alfred |title=Police are using flawed data in facial recognition searches, study finds |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/police-are-using-flawed-data-in-facial-recognition-searches-study-finds/ |access-date=13 March 2021 |work=CNET |language=en}}

References

External links

[https://www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-technology-center/ Official website]
[https://www.perpetuallineup.org/ The Perpetual Line-Up]

Category:Georgetown University programs

Category:Georgetown University Law Center

Category:Educational institutions established in 2014

Category:Think tanks established in 2014

Category:Legal think tanks

Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States

Category:Science and technology think tanks