Alexandra Reeve Givens

The TAKE IT DOWN Act Is US Law. Platforms Must Do More Than The Bare Minimum | TechPolicy.Press Platforms must invest the time and effort necessary to protect users and meaningfully respond to image-based sexual abuse, writes CDT's Becca Branum.

The TAKE IT DOWN ACT is law. Compliance is the floor—platforms must invest the time and effort necessary to protect users and meaningfully respond to image-based sexual abuse, says CDT's Becca Branum.

Federal Efforts to Expand Access to Data from State-Run Programs In this explainer, we highlight the potential harms associated with the federal government’s unprecedented efforts to access state administrative data

Alongside our partners at @cdt.org + @civilrightsorg.bsky.social, we published an explainer on recent efforts by the federal gov to gain unprecedented access to state administrative data and what it means for the privacy and security of Americans’ personal info. protectdemocracy.org/work/federal...

🚨 New from CDT: The non-consensual distribution of intimate imagery — incl. AI-generated content — is a growing form of image-based abuse. Victims face high barriers to reporting and removal. CDT’s latest report from @beccabranum.bsky.social & Mi Yeon Kim assesses how major platforms handle NDII.

Great news at a time we need it.

Are Noncitizens’ Speech Rights Protected? | Harvard Magazine Harvard faculty testify in a federal lawsuit over free speech and deportations.

Yes, the First Amendment protects noncitizens, too—and this has been the law for eighty years, even if many people are suddenly pretending it’s an open question. www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/07/aaup...

image of individual typing on a keyboard.

What happens when the federal government seeks to centralize sensitive state data on individuals? On July 16, AEI & CDT will bring together experts to unpack the civil liberties, privacy & security implications of federal data consolidation. Details 👇

In ChatGPT Case, Order to Retain All Chats Threatens User Privacy Tomorrow, Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will convene an in-person conference between the parties in the New York Times Co. v. OpenAI cop...

A conference in the NYT v OpenAI case today impacts the privacy of 400m+ ChatGPT users. No matter the case’s merits, there’s no way the chat outputs of *all* users should be saved without constraint. CDT’s @bankston.bsky.social on why the judge must craft a nuanced approach: cdt.org/insights/in-...

CDT Submits Comments to HHS Supporting Its Proposed Rule Limiting Law Enforcement Access to Reproductive Health Records Also contributed to by CDT Intern Sydney Brinker In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and subsequent state laws that criminalize abortion, patients are at heightened risk that their health care providers will turn over sensitive reproductive health information to law enforcement for abortion-related investigations. In response […]

This week, a Texas judge struck down the rule prohibiting sharing patients’ abortion records with law enforcement when the procedure was lawfully provided. CDT previously supported the rule & commended HHS for passing it.

1) cdt.org/insights/cdt...
2) cdt.org/press/hhs-ad...

French Lawmaker Says He Was Denied Entry Into the United States

Every one of these petty, ideologically driven visa denials is an assault on *our* freedom of association, our right to hear, and our ability to learn about the world around us. They are meant to make us stupider, more susceptible to manipulation, and less free. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/w...

Smart, important 🧵 from Senior Director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice

wasn't just enough to freeze a state's ability to regulate consumer protection and civil rights.

now, very coercive tactics: if you want the money to build out high-speed internet to un-served and under-served communities, we have to ban your state's ability to do AI policy.

Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans

If attempted, this would constitute flagrant violations of the Privacy Act of 1974 www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/t...

How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reporting For a second year, the Pulitzer Prizes required applicants to divulge AI usage — one winner and three finalists disclosed.

How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reporting www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/how-...

Trump DOJ goon threatens Wikipedia Wikipedia is facing another threat.

Wikipedia is the ground truth of the internet. It has over 260000 dedicated people engaged in radically transparent content moderation and that’s why it’s the last best thing on the Internet. Targeting it says more about the one doing the targeting. www.theverge.com/news/656720/...

Leading us off, CDT CEO @alexreevegivens.bsky.social: “We’re convening this event because the U.S. is facing a crisis moment for the future of free speech."

Graphic for a CDT event, entitled “Who Will Fight for the First Amendment? Protecting Free Expression at a Critical Time.” Thursday, April 24, 2025, from 2-3pm ET.

Who will stand up for free expression? Join CDT + a powerhouse panel — incl. FCC’s @agomezfcc.bsky.social, @alexabdo.bsky.social, Kate Tumarello & @alexreevegivens.bsky.social — for a convo on defending the First Amendment.

🗓️ April 24 | 2-3PM ET | Webinar

RSVP: cdt.org/event/who-wi...

DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, an IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

ICYMI, DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

Public media is a pillar of our communities. Don’t defund it | Opinion Critics argue that public broadcasting is biased. But year after year, surveys show that PBS is the most trusted source of news in America. | Opinion

New op-ed from @maribel-wadsworth.bsky.social

“…public station is in some places the last truly local newsroom. Eliminate the funding, and you silence local voices. You shrink civic space. You take away access to trusted information in communities that need it most.”

Keep the faith. Take action. Be honest about risk. Be prudent (with words, acquaintances, and technology).

@juliaangwin.com and @amifieldsmeyer.bsky.social distill the wisdom of elders and of the ages into a primer for The Opposition™️

Your weekend #mustread

Official U.S. government communications should always be cross-posted in an accessible format to a .gov website so that no American has to sign up for a commercial service nor agree to Terms of Service to read public laws, court rulings, orders, or other edicts of government.

Weaponizing Immigrant Tax Data: How IRS-DHS Cooperation Would Undermine Tax Compliance, Increase Burdens, and Threaten Data Privacy Legal Uncertainties and Dangerous Precedent for Data Privacying-effects-on-u-s-citizens-and-nonimmigrant-taxpayers" class="toc-anchor">Cascading Effects on U.S. Citizens and Nonimmigrant Taxpayers-imm...

…immigrant communities, weaken contributions to essential public programs and increase burdens for U.S. citizens & nonimmigrant taxpayers. It also sets a dangerous precedent for data privacy abuse in other federal programs.” View our deep dive on the issue here: cdt.org/insights/wea...

My colleague Tom Bowman weighed in with AP: “The DHS-IRS agreement marks a complete betrayal of decades of the government telling immigrants to file their taxes. Disclosing immigrant tax records to DHS for immigration enforcement will discourage tax compliance among…

IRS acting commissioner is resigning after deal to share immigrants' tax information with ICE The Internal Revenue Service’s acting commissioner is resigning over a deal to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people i...

Courage is contagious: IRS leaders are right to resign over the outrageous deal for taxpayers’ information to be used in sweeping immigration efforts. apnews.com/article/irs-...

On #TransDayOfVisibility, we celebrate trans + nonbinary people & call for tech policies that protect their rights – esp. in a time when their right to exist is increasingly under attack. From AI bias to online harassment, digital spaces should be designed for safety, privacy, & free expression.

Presidents Don’t Control Our Elections The Trump administration has launched a brazen attack on elections, which could disenfranchise millions and usurp the constitutional role of Congress.

A new executive order threatens to disenfranchise millions of American voters and undermine data security by giving DOGE access to voter records in every state. Join Brennan Center experts for a virtual discussion on how we can protect our elections on Tues, Apr. 1, at 3 pm ET. RSVP:

Right now there are a lot of new eyes on Signal, and not all of them are familiar with secure messaging and its nuances. Which means there’s misinfo flying around that might drive people away from Signal and private communications. 1/

“What FTC minority commissioners can do is bring transparency and accountability to the work of the agency”

Thank you @sarahjeong.bsky.social for this thoughtful post. We need these individual acts of leadership.

Exclusive: Trump fires both Democratic commissioners at FTC, sources say President Donald Trump fired the two Democratic commissioners at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the situation said, in another major test of the independence of regulatory agencies.

Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...