Join us in congratulating our Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson for being selected to join the 2025-26 cohort of Gender+ Justice Initiative Fellows!

Our ED Emily Tucker spoke with @politico.com’s Alfred Ng about ICE's new contract for skip tracing for today’s Morning Tech newsletter. “It’s surveillance that targets people that are typically hard to find in the databases that already exist,” said Tucker.

📢📢📢 Don’t miss this great event happening TODAY! Join us to learn how 5 experts have made their own path in the privacy field.

Corporations call it "privacy-preserving," but this new AI tech isn't all that it seems. Our new brief w/@datasociety.bsky.social + CoWorker exposes how this tech harms + exploits workers and what we can do to strengthen worker protections + power in the digital age: datasociety.net/library/the-...

Last month, we published new research about CBP’s collection of DNA from US citizens. In a new blog post, our Associate @ehtse.bsky.social writes about the widespread risks of genetic surveillance and our ongoing research into DHS’s DNA collection program. Read it here:

🚨TOMORROW! Curious about the implications that technology access has on the economic and social participation of communities marginalized by the structural barriers of inequity? Dr. Nicol Turner Lee will discuss her book, “Digitally Invisible: How the Internet is Creating the New Underclass.”

📢 Georgetown students!! Interested in a career in privacy? Join us on October 20 to hear from professionals who’ve found a range of pathways to their careers in privacy.

Digital Inclusion Week is here and we have an event for you! Dr. Nicol Turner Lee of @brookings.edu will join us to discuss what digital equity can look like as the importance of internet access in the US for economic participation continues to increase.

Cuando publicamos nuestro informe de 2024 “Asalto al Genoma,” sospechábamos que agentes del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) podían estar coleccionando ADN de ciudadanos estadounidenses. Ahora podemos confirmar que esas sospechas eran correctas.

DHS DNA collection “is illegal, unconstitutional, and deeply corrosive to civil rights and liberties. No amount of coerced ‘consent’ can make it otherwise,” says Privacy Center Dir. of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson.

When we published our 2024 report “Raiding the Genome,” we suspected that DHS agents might be taking DNA from US citizens. We can now confirm that those suspicions were correct. www.raidingthegenome.org

They promised cheap rent They gave us culture war

Happening tomorrow! Interested in scholarship surrounding emerging technology and social responsibility? Join us as Professor Ryan Calo dives into his new book, “Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach”!

Last week @amcommmedia.bsky.social hosted “Expanding Surveillance of Immigrants – At What Cost?” to explore how the US govt’s growing surveillance arsenal is used beyond immigration enforcement. americancommunitymedia.org/media-briefi...

En 2024 publicamos “Asalto al Genoma: Cómo el Gobierno de los EEUU Abusa de Sus Facultades en Materia de Inmigración para Acumular ADN para Futuras Acciones Policiales.” Hemos seguido investigando el programa de recolección de ADN del DHS. Hoy compartimos algunas novedades. raidingthegenome.org

A book talk you don’t want to miss! Professor at @uwlaw.bsky.social @rcalo.bsky.social, will talk about his new book “Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach,” which explores what scholars and society can do about emerging technology.

Did you just read about how traditional Medicare is about to require prior approval - and they’re going to hire **AI companies** to dole out those approvals? Then you need to learn about Dr. Gary Bent.

Update: This week, the WA Dept of Licensing cut off ICE’s access to a state database containing driver and vehicle licensing data.

Earlier this summer, our Associate Dr. Marianna Poyares (@maripoyares.bsky.social) wrote a piece for our blog about Sam Altman’s new retina scanning tech. Now, as more companies are considering implementing this tech, it’s imperative to understand the trade offs. Read Marianna’s blog here:

Last call for the A.I. in Art: Perceptions, Values & Rights Exhibition! It’s on display until 9/1 @GeorgetownUniversity Lauinger Library & is the product of an interdisciplinary research project led by students & faculty from Dept of CompSci, Dept of Art & Art History, & @georgetownlaw.bsky.social.

Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson (@sglabe.bsky.social) joined The Take podcast to talk about DHS DNA collection. Watch the episode from @ajepodcasts.bsky.social:

Thank you @pressley.house.gov for bringing attention to DHS’s abusive DNA collection program in Congress this week. The public deserves transparency about how federal immigration enforcement handles people’s sensitive genetic material.

The latest from philosopher David McNeill, who teaches our “No, We Don’t Live In A F%#*ing Simulation” mini course.

“What we have now is the federal government has essentially unleashed an anonymized, militarized police force on its own people, and people are doing the most basic things they can think of to try to take back some sense of agency and security.” - Emily Tucker, Center on Privacy & Technology

This week, @wyden.senate.gov cited findings from our recent update to the “Raiding the Genome” report in an oversight letter to DHS and DOJ, raising important questions about the massive DNA collection program led by those agencies. www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-r...

TONIGHT: Interested in learning more about resisting mass surveillance and ICE’s use of Flock? The focus will be specifically on how to shut off Flock in Denver, but lessons are applicable everywhere! Join the teach-in livestream at 6pm MT: bit.ly/FLOCKteachin

Anyone’s personal information can end up in the hands of ICE simply by applying for a driver’s license. A report from Seattle’s King 5 reveals that, after cutting off immigration enforcement from its driver records, WA Dept of Licensing quietly reinstated access. www.king5.com/article/news...

“It’s very clear that the current goal is to continue to grow digital surveillance and use it for whatever this current administration decides,” our Associate @ehtse.bsky.social told @prismreports.org

Last year, we published “Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing.” Since then, we’ve continued to research DHS’s DNA-collection program. Today, we’re sharing some updates. raidingthegenome.org

🧵On Tues, the Senate passed Pres. Trump’s bill. In it is $175bn to enforce Trump’s anti-immigration agenda & room for billions more for his other priorities like new tech for DHS. Our ED Emily Tucker spoke with @techpolicypress.bsky.social ‬about the bill: www.techpolicy.press/republican-b...

We’re excited to have 3 new excellent Distinguished Fellows joining our team! Please welcome Cathryn Ann Paul Jackson, Beile Lindner, and Salomé Viljoen (‪@salome.bsky.social)!

Across the country, more and more schools are adopting technology to surveil their students in the name of “safety.” Our Senior Associate @clarenceokoh.bsky.social recently spoke with @wordinblacknews.bsky.social's Quintessa Williams about the surveillance & policing of Black students in schools.

As the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement in the nation's interior, it’s trying to issue a $25 million contract for DNA testing. "The mass collection of this data leaves it open for abuse," Associate @ehtse.bsky.social told @bloomberg.com

"The political imagination of our elites raises the slogan “humanity first” only to display a barren concept of what it means to be human: to be a user, a consumer, and a source of data extraction."

We’re suing. Today we filed a complaint in D.C. district court against #DHS, #ICE, and #CBP for the agencies’ failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

“Taking DNA from a 4-year old and adding it into CODIS flies in the face of any immigration purpose," Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson told @dmehro.bsky.social in a new article for @wired.com. “That’s not immigration enforcement. That’s genetic surveillance.”

Our ED, Emily Tucker, & philosopher David McNeill co-authored a new piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social al‬ about Sam Altman’s new Tools for Humanity technology.

Congratulations to all of the Georgetown Law Class of 2025 graduates, especially our wonderful student research assistants! We wish you all the best in your next chapter.

Last reminder! Today is the priority deadline for our 2025 - 2026 student communications assistant position. Open to all currently enrolled GU students with preference given to those graduating in 2027 or 2028. Details and application:

House Rs included a surprising provision in their “big beautiful bill” that would bar states from enforcing laws about “AI” or “automated decision systems” for a decade. Today we joined a diverse coalition of orgs in opposing the terrible proposal.

Hace 3 años, publicamos “Redes de Arrastre Americanas.” El informe describe el sistema de vigilancia que Trump ahora está usando para atacar a los inmigrantes, activistas, y a cualquier persona que desafíe su agenda. Hoy estamos relanzando el informe con un nuevo prólogo.

"If it weren’t Sam Altman trying to take over by selling our own humanity back to us, it would be someone else. And it will be someone else, & someone else again, until we put a stop to it." Fire from David McNeill & Emily Tucker @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/sam-altmans-...

Three years ago, we released “American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century.” The report describes the surveillance apparatus that Trump is using to target immigrants, activists and anyone else who challenges his agenda. We’re re-releasing it today with a new foreword.

ICYMI: NIH is building a national health database. "We know that health information is incredibly sensitive. When people go to their healthcare provider, they're giving up that information because they have to in order to receive a service." - Associate @ehtse.bsky.social, to @nbcwashington.com

In a new column for @nytimes.com, @juliaangwin.com relies on Privacy Center faculty advisor @paulohm.bsky.social's scholarship to explain the danger in DOGE's efforts to build a "database of ruin" and how Congress could act to stop it: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/o...

Yesterday, we hosted Prof. Iagê Miola for a round table with our Fritz Fellow Dr. Marianna Poyares. We had a robust discussion about regulatory principles, how to enact the right to manage one's digital persona, reiterative consent, & the right to digital oblivion. Thank you to those who joined us!

The last @noticecoalition.bsky.social “No Data About Us Without Us” Fellow is Shayna Karuman! Shayna is a first-generation Asian American artist who channels her experiences of frequent relocation into creative expression and community-building.

TODAY! Join us to hear from Prof Iagê Miola, Director of the Brazilian National Authority for Data Protection, and our Fritz Fellow Dr. Marianna Poyares to learn more about Brazil’s policies on privacy and data protection. At 500 First St NW on the 6th floor. RSVP NOW: forms.gle/LaEDrcEntkGG...

Today we are introducing @noticecoalition.bsky.social “No Data About Us Without Us” Fellow Jonathan Rodriguez! Jonathan is an activist dedicated to helping youth live above the odds by using his lived experience to help advocate for change in his communities.