Center on Privacy & Technology

Installing Updates to ECPA Join us on Friday, March 6, from 8:30am to 2:00pm for a one-day widely attended gathering marking the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Enacted four decades ago, EC...

Details:
📅 Friday, March 6th
🕥 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
📍McCourt Capitol Conference Room
🖊️RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Join us for a joint event with @lawfaremedia.org and @gtowntechlaw.bsky.social, “Installing Updates to ECPA.” The event marks the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and features keynote remarks and panels from leading experts on the future of surveillance law.

An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a “Moderate Risk.” Now He’s No Longer Eligible for Parole. A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release. Civil rights attorneys say it could disproportionately harm B...

Two months before Calvin Alexander’s parole hearing date, he was told he was no longer eligible.

Why? An algorithm had deemed the nearly blind 70-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, a “moderate risk,” barring him from speaking to the parole board.

(Published April 2025 w/ @veritenews.org)

Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor AI is reinscribing academic labor in ways that privilege certain economics interests.

In the article, Mejias argues that AI reinforces economic and corporate interests and reduces creative teaching. Read the full article here:

One of our advisory board members, Ulises Mejias (@ulises-mejias.bsky.social), recently published an article in Academe Magazine titled “Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor” where he analyzes how AI has been and will continue to disrupt education and writing assignments.

Opinion | The Plan for a Radically Different Supreme Court Is Here

Toobin's call for a radical re-thinking of constitutional interpretation is answered in "A Theory of Law for the Next Founding Generation" by McNeill and Tucker. scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cpt_papers/1/ @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/o...

Opinion | ICE’s New Surveillance State Isn’t Tracking Only Immigrants

Our 2022 report, “American Dragnet,” was featured in a New York Times article titled “ICE’s New Surveillance State Isn’t Tracking Only Immigrants,” which discusses ICE’s extensive surveillance practices that are costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Read the full article here:

ICE: Über welche Überwachungstechnologien Trumps Einwanderungsbehörde verfügt Die umstrittene Einwanderungsbehörde ICE verfügt über ein wachsendes Arsenal an Überwachungstechnologien. Palantir spielt eine zentrale Rolle – ist aber bei Weitem nicht der einzige Zulieferer. Es sin...

Our Executive Director Emily Tucker was featured in a Frankfurter Allgemeine article discussing the Trump administration’s reliance on tech to facilitate ICE’s mass deportation efforts. She tells Frankfurter Allgemeine this use of technology is “far beyond what is justifiable.” Read the article:

Private Matters: Health, Technology, and Battles Over Personal Data Join us for a timely discussion on pressing medical privacy challenges in the United States, including direct-to-consumer genetics, AI in healthcare, and growing threats to reproductive and LGBTQ+ hea...

RSVP for the event here:

Join GW’s Health Law and Policy Program and GW’s Center for Law on Friday, February 13th for “Private Matters: Health, Technology, and Battles Over Personal Data.” Featuring our Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson, the event will explore pressing issues on privacy in healthcare.

Questioning the Normalization of Surveillance Last fall I met Elina Jadhav, a local high school student, who reached out to me as part of a research project she was doing on the use of…

Throughout their conversations and her own research, Elina thought about her personal relationship to surveillance as a young person coming of age in a world where surveillance is pervasive and overlooked. Read her guest blog on her perspectives and reflections on surveillance on our site.

Last fall, local high school student Elina Jadhav reached out to our Executive Director Emily Tucker about a research project she was working on pertaining to the use of surveillance technology by police.

Toward Compliance Zero: AI and the Vanishing Costs of Regulatory Compliance - Network Law Review AI systems now perform core compliance tasks once reserved for humans. Prof. Ohm argues that this will drive the marginal cost of regulatory compliance toward zero. The claim is grounded in the nature...

You can read Paul's full essay here:

AI Will Automate Compliance. How Can AI Policy Capitalize? AI may soon automate regulatory compliance itself—making regulations contingent on whether compliance can be reliably completed by AI tools.

Our Faculty Advisor Paul Ohm’s (@paulohm.bsky.social) essay, “Toward Compliance Zero: AI & the Vanishing Costs of Regulatory Compliance” was featured in a @lawfaremedia.org article discussing the potential of AI-automated regulatory compliance & the implications for future AI policy.

Opinion | ICE Is Watching You

Our Executive Director Emily Tucker was quoted in a column by Tressie McMillan Cottom from the New York Times about signs that ICE is looking to collect data from nearly every facet of Americans’ lives. Read the article here:

Installing Updates to ECPA Join us on Friday, March 6, from 8:30am to 2:00pm for a one-day convening marking the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Enacted four decades ago, ECPA continues to ...

Join Lawfare, @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social, and the @gtowntechlaw.bsky.social on Friday, March 6 for a event featuring leading scholars, practitioners, and former government officials marking the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

RSVP here: lawfaremedia.org/ecpaevent

Dominoes are falling, per @ruddock.bsky.social.

The day-long event brought together scholars, practitioners, lawyers, & advocates to explain how political life and government power have been shaped by data surveillance. The Symposium featured four impactful panels exploring the role of data and technology in governance and democratic resistance.

On January 30th, we cohosted Georgetown Law Technology Review’s symposium: Data, Power, and Authoritarianism. The Symposium featured a fireside chat with our founder, Alvaro Bedoya, & our Faculty Advisors Julie Cohen, Paul Ohm, Laura Moy, & one of our Advisory Board members, Ulises A. Mejias.

Trump's DNA Dragnet: The Law That Turns Us All Into Suspects Donald Trump's administration is turning immigration screening into the backbone of a DNA surveillance system that reaches far beyond the border.

Our Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson spoke with Rolling Stone's Alex Ashley about how the Trump administration has been using a widely-ignored federal law from the Bush administration as the basis for legal DNA collection at immigration screenings. Read the article here:

Clashes between ICE and protesters come down to the technology Activists are creating text alert systems and tracking websites to monitor the whereabouts of federal agents.

Our ED Emily Tucker spoke with Semafor about how tech can be used to monitor the govt. & hold it accountable. “The technologies used by the government & by individuals are not comparable — ‘it’s like saying they have an atom bomb, & you have a pen knife,’ Tucker says.” Read the article here:

How is ICE tracking people in Minnesota? An expert explains The federal agents trying to meet the government’s mass deportation goals have new tools to help them find people to arrest and deport.

Our Director of Research and Advocacy Stevie Glaberson recently spoke with MPR News’ Nina Mioni about how ICE’s surveillance tools enable the tracking of people in Minnesota. Read the article here:

Symposium The Georgetown Law Technology Review (GLTR) will host its biennial Symposium on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 500 First Street NW Floor 9 on the Georgetown Law campus. The day-long event will bring …

Composed of 4 incredible panels, the Symposium will tackle discussions of the role of data and digital technologies in consolidating power and enabling new forms of authoritarian control. Register here:

We are partnering with the Georgetown Law Technology Review to host the 2026 Symposium next week. The Symposium features our founder Alvaro Bedoya, our Faculty Advisors Julie Cohen, Paul Ohm, Laura Moy, and one of our Advisory Board members Ulises A. Mejias.

What Will Unchecked Artificial Intelligence Mean for Immigration? Critics say the Trump administration’s immigration agenda is a “nightmare” brought about by mass surveillance and artificial intelligence.

Our Postdoctoral Fellow Marianna Poyares and Executive Director Emily Tucker were quoted in an Inkstick Media article that explores how surveillance technologies and the misregulation of AI-supported platforms target and harm many immigrant communities in the United States. Read the article here:

Trump’s immigration data dragnet The US is pulling in vast amounts of personal information in its drive to deport 1mn people this year

Our ED Emily Tucker was quoted in a Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) article on the Trump administration’s expanding use of commercial and government data to track and deport immigrants. Read the full article here:

Retired teacher fights SFPD’s ‘Orwellian’ camera surveillance The police department is being sued over its use of Flock cameras that record license plates.

“The lawsuit claims that the use of Flock cameras constitutes an illegal search and violates his 4th Amendment right to privacy and association. The city has also broken California law barring out-of-state law enforcement from using such data, Moore’s lawsuit alleges.”

And here is the link to submit your own comment. Doesn't need to be long or lawyerly!

www.regulations.gov/commenton/US...

Collection and Use of Biometrics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes to amend its regulations governing biometrics use and collection. DHS proposes to require submission of biometrics by any individual, regardless...

Here is the rule: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Last month, DHS issued a notice of its intent to change the agency rule on DNA collection to give itself essentially unlimited authority to take DNA from anyone. 48 members of Congress signed a letter opposing the rule. You have until Jan 2 to submit your comment.

drive.google.com/file/d/1tqSA...