Center for Democracy & Technology
Recent News About Center for Democracy & Technology
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Last week, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force released a comprehensive report with recommendations on how to keep youth safe online. This task force, co-led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, addressed critical issues related to youth health, safety, and privacy online.
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Cybercrime, ranging from identity theft and one-off scams to attacks on major institutions, has become a significant threat to the safety and privacy of internet users globally. However, a new treaty that aims to address the issue could potentially do more harm than good.
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When people with disabilities interact with technologies, there is a risk of facing discriminatory impacts in several high-stakes contexts such as employment, benefits, and healthcare. Automated employment decision tools, for instance, can unfairly screen disabled applicants by flagging unusual eye movements of blind or low-vision individuals, thereby removing them from the applicant pool.
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The Centre for Democracy & Technology Europe has released its final Tech Policy Brief before the summer break, set to return in September. This edition addresses key technology and internet policy issues under debate in Europe, the U.S., and internationally, offering CDT’s perspective on their impact on digital rights.
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Internet governance and human rights are currently at the forefront of the United Nations' agenda. Recently, delegates convened in New York to discuss the Global Digital Compact, a two-year process that will culminate in a globally negotiated text affirming the central role of governments in governing the internet. The internet is considered a global public good, governed by various stakeholders across different bodies. Civil society organizations, such as the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), play a crucial role in ensuring that human rights are protected, enabled,...
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Recent AI incidents have underscored the urgent need for robust governance to mitigate risks and ensure responsible development of AI-powered systems. For example, 4chan users leveraged AI tools to create violent and explicit images of female celebrities, and Google’s Gemini generated offensive images of “historical” figures. These incidents are part of a long history of AI failures, from chatbots spewing hate speech to algorithms exacerbating racial disparities in healthcare. Ongoing AI incidents raise a crucial question: Why do AI failures persist? The answer, while...
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CDT joined 15 civil society organizations and individuals in a letter to the Biden Administration, outlining baseline requirements for inclusion in a forthcoming National Security Memorandum. The memorandum is intended to address "the governance of AI used as a component of a national security system or for military and intelligence purposes." This directive follows Executive Order No. 14,110 on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which mandates the completion of this memorandum by July 26.
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New internet-based technologies have boomed with unprecedented access to data and data management tools. While this has facilitated innovation, it has also left many personal users and companies alike with limited knowledge about the uses and potential harms of their data. Balancing innovation and data privacy often requires tailored approaches, which is what the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) attempted to address with their now highly-relied upon voluntary Privacy Framework, which offers guidance for organizations to voluntarily implement to protect...
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In December 2023, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), in collaboration with a broad range of national civil rights and workers’ rights organizations, published the Civil Rights Standards for 21st Century Employment Selection Procedures. The key impetus for these standards was employers' increasing use of automated employment decision systems (AEDSs) to evaluate employees and make employment decisions.
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CDT has submitted comments to the EU Commission to inform its first annual review of the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF). The DPF enables the transfer of personal data between the EU and the U.S. while ensuring adequate data protection standards. CDT's submission explains key changes in U.S. laws, regulations, and practices, focusing on the April 2024 reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA 702).
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The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) covers a broad taxonomy of actors, ranging from providers and deployers of AI systems to importers and distributors. The obligations pertaining to each of these actors have been the subject of extensive compliance coverage. Often lost in the conversation are the obligations imposed on public authorities in the European Union by the AI Act, including the changes they may need to incorporate when considering the use of AI.
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The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) has submitted a comment to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in response to its request for information on building the Federal Evidence Agenda on Disability Equity. The Agenda aims to enhance the federal government’s ability to make data-informed policy decisions that advance equity for people with disabilities.
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Today, CDT’s Director of AI Governance Lab, Miranda Bogen, is speaking before the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) Public Forum on the Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Counterterrorism and Related National Security Programs.
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This op-ed, authored by CDT’s Gabriel Nicholas, first appeared in Foreign Policy on July 8, 2024. A portion of the text has been pasted below.
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The Centre for Democracy & Technology Europe (CDT Europe) has released its July 2024 Tech Policy Brief, addressing significant technology and internet policy issues in Europe, the U.S., and globally. This edition highlights CDT's perspectives on digital rights impacts and provides updates on various initiatives.
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On June 24, government officials, civil society representatives, and academics convened at the "Artificial Intelligence & The First Amendment: Protecting Free Speech in the AI Era" symposium hosted by CDT and The Future of Free Speech. Experts discussed the importance of free expression considerations in regulatory debates around AI.
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A group of technical experts involved in the development and maintenance of the Internet and the Web, including CDT CTO Mallory Knodel, published an open letter today. The letter calls on the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General and the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology to "uphold the bottom-up, collaborative and inclusive model of Internet governance that has served the world for the past half century" as part of the upcoming Global Digital Compact (GDC).
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This week marked the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated federal protections for abortion. The ruling has highlighted the importance of digital privacy in defending gender justice.
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On June 18, CDT Europe held a closed civil society workshop to discuss advancing fundamental rights in the implementation of the AI Act. The event brought together representatives from key civil society organizations to brainstorm opportunities and strategic approaches to ensure human rights remain central during the roadmap to implementation.
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In response to the news that the markup was canceled, Eric Null, Co-Director of CDT’s Privacy & Data Project, issued the following statement: