Center for Democracy & Technology

08/28/2026

“Privacy experts have cautioned against stronger age verification, such as collecting facial images or government IDs, that could be vulnerable to data breaches or misuse….”
“....Kate Ruane, director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in a statement that the settlement poses potential risks to privacy and free expression online, as it ‘will subject all users to invasive age assurance.’”

Meta’s landmark settlement agreement with states is unprecedented in that it forces Meta to redesign key features of Instagram and Facebook for teens.

08/28/2026

New polling commissioned by CDT and conducted by Public First shows strong British public opposition to expanding government access to private, encrypted communications.
In new research, CDT's Tom Bowman and Greg Nojeim examine what the findings reveal about public attitudes toward encryption, privacy and government surveillance. Read the full research:

The findings challenge claims of broad UK support for secret surveillance powers. Nearly two-thirds of the British public would not trust a current or future government with access to encrypted messages, and nearly three-quarters worry such access could discourage free speech & open communication.

Computer Weekly has the exclusive on CDT's polling, reporting on the public's concerns about UK government surveillance powers and access to encrypted communications. Read the exclusive from Bill Goodwin: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366649780/Public-wary-of-UK-government-backdoor-surveillance-following-Apple-row-poll-reveals

The UK government and its regulators are steadily expanding state surveillance over private, encrypted communications. This has come primarily through secret Technical Capability Notices issued under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 — the law widely known as the “Snoopers’ Charter” — whic...

08/27/2026

What happens when anonymity online becomes the exception rather than the norm? Join CDT and STT September 23–24 for The Death of Online Anonymity?, this year’s FOSO concerence. We’ll explore the growing threats to anonymous speech. https://foso26.cdt.org/

Join civil society, academics, companies, & practitioners for discussions on where anonymity should be protected, where it may be compromised, and how we can support anonymous speech into the future.

📅 September 23–24
🕛 12:00–2:30 PM ET
💻 Online via Zoom
Register: https://foso26.cdt.org/

08/26/2026

What makes outrage spread so easily online, and how does it shape political influence? At Festival, CDT’s Isabel Linzer joins a conversation on polarization, social media creators, and the forces shaping political debate.

Moderated by Alexander Sängerlaub, the session brings together psychology, platform dynamics, and the creator economy to explore how digital spaces can support democratic debate rather than amplify polarization.

📍 Linz, Austria
📅 September 9–13, 2026

Time: 10:00 am -5:00 pm CET Date: September 9-13, 2026 From September 9 to 13, 2026, Linz will once again become a hotspot for the international media art scene. Exhibitions, performances, concerts and conferences will be held at festival locations throughout the city. Although most people know Ars....

08/26/2026

“Privacy advocates, however, expressed disappointment with the attorney general’s choice to abandon the cases. Orgs like the EFF & CDT had supported the lawsuits, viewing them as essential tests of whether state laws could meaningfully constrain surveillance capitalism.”

“These groups worry that dropping the actions sends a signal to technology firms that aggressive data collection carries limited legal risk in California, potentially undermining the state’s reputation as a leader in consumer protection.” .

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has ended the state's long-running lawsuits against major tech and advertising firms over cookie-based tracking and privacy violations under the CCPA and CPRA. The office will shift focus from litigation to clearer guidelines, federal partnerships, and targeted....

08/26/2026

“Tom Bowman, policy counsel with the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology’s Security & Surveillance Project wrote in an email that ‘the “compromise” already exists. It’s called a warrant.’”

Police around New York state have searched Flock’s license plate database on behalf of ICE, according to new research by civil rights groups.

08/25/2026

What does courage look like in an age of fear? In a special live episode of CDT’s Tech Talks, Miranda Bogen joins Julia Angwin + Ami Fields-Meyer, authors of On Courage, to explore dissent, accountability, and democratic resilience in an era of surveillance & polarization.
Drawing from the stories in On Courage, the conversation examines how we can challenge powerful systems, make principled decisions under pressure, and build cultures that support dissent when it matters most. Listen to the special live episode of Tech Talks:

Today’s episode is a special recording from a live CDT book talk featuring a conversation about On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. In this special episode, you’ll hear CDT’s Miranda Bogen in conversation with the book’s authors, Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer. Together, ...

08/25/2026

“A Center for Democracy and Technology survey found that once students know they’re being monitored, they pull back: About half say they don’t share their true thoughts online, and roughly 8 in 10 say they’re more careful about what they search.”
“The same research found nearly a third of LGBTQ+ students reported that they or someone they knew had been outed because of the monitoring, sometimes to admin, through nothing but a private search. The child the algorithm reads as a threat is the child the institution already distrusted.”

Students are going back to the most surveilled campuses in American history.

08/25/2026

“But Tom Bowman, policy counsel at CDT’s Security & Surveillance Project, told Fortune that the policy changes still leave it up to the customer. ‘This is just a recommendation,’ he said. ‘This is not legally binding.’ The real retention period for that city is whatever its own contract says.”

Cities are canceling contracts. Cameras are getting vandalized, and lawyers who have reviewed the company’s contracts say data ownership is not clearly defined.

08/24/2026

“Georgetown University Law Center's Tech Law Clinic authored the consumer complaint on behalf of We Are CASA, which advocates for working class, Black, Latino, Indigenous and immigrant rights, and 11 other orgs that focus on privacy and civil rights, incl. CDT and the EPIC.”
“Maryland's law is unique for its rules barring data brokers from selling personal data to entities that assist with immigration enforcement, said Greg Nojeim, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Security and Surveillance Project.”
“Data brokers in Maryland cannot comply with an ICE subpoena to seek a Marylander's sensitive data, instead ICE must present a warrant, Nojeim said.”
CDT’s Nojeim: "This is important because ICE has abused its administrative subpoena authority to silence people who point out ICE abuses.”
“Maryland is telling ICE, 'Get a warrant if you want Marylanders' sensitive data,’Nojeim said.”

Maryland has one of the strictest data privacy laws in the country. But privacy advocates allege that data brokers are violating the law by selling data to police and federal immigration agencies.