Are we really going to let a few men destroy democracy? — The stakes going into this year’s presidential election have arguably never been higher. Hard hit by a series of overlapping and intertwined crises, including the COVID-19 public health emergency and ensuing economic devastation and despair, people across America are suffering. At the same time, our country is facing a deep…

By Elizabeth M. Renieris in collaboration with Omidyar Network In line with Omidyar Network’s pathways and pitfalls themed series, this piece focuses on the impact of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the global data protection landscape since taking effect in May of 2018. It is undeniable that the…

A Legal, Public Health, and Technical Perspective — By Elizabeth M. Renieris, Dr. Sherri Bucher, and Christian Smith Despite limited backing from civil society or public health experts, as well as warnings from historians and bioethicists, technologists are racing ahead to build and deploy digital certificates that would allegedly let individuals “prove” whether they have recovered from the…

It’s time to move beyond individualistic approaches to data governance — The coronavirus pandemic should make us reflect on the future of data governance and the limitations of our existing approaches. No one questions the prominence of data in our society and its increasingly prominent role in all of its systems, including public health. But a “data-driven” approach takes on an…

Neuro-hacking,

Applying core international human rights principles to coronavirus-related privacy interferences — In the face of the devastating coronavirus pandemic, governments around the world are deploying an array of public- and private-sector technologies, causing great concern and alarm among privacy advocates worldwide. …

The future of “ownership” in a connected world In 2018, The Great Hack star and former Cambridge Analytica operative Brittany Kaiser launched a Change.org petition with the hashtag #ownyourdata, equating personal data with ownable property. …

What BIPA and SyRI-related developments tell us about the future of privacy Despite an otherwise dystopian start to 2020, there have also been a few glimmers of hope in the early weeks of the new decade. …

A theory of digital ID premised on Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy Digital identity systems are rapidly rolling out across countries and localities around the world. Digital ID credentials are quickly replacing legacy ones, with experts predicting that nearly half of all identity credentials in circulation will be smart credentials…