Information technology lets people learn about one another on a scale previously unimaginable. Information in the wrong hands can be harmful. Scholars on this site consider problems of privacy, fraud, identity, and security posed by the digital age.
"This is the first piece of legislation that I’ve seen that really takes facial recognition technology as seriously as it is warranted and treats it as uniquely dangerous." — Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law, Northeastern University
The technique Facebook used to bypass Apple’s App Store, called a root certificate, is "a really invasive solution to the problem Facebook was trying to solve. It opens up a lot of potential security risks. And I don’t know the full range of all of them." — Eric Goldman, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University
"I think that California, like Brussels, certainly might set the bar for compliance on several important tech issues. But this might not lead to balkanization in the way we’re seeing in China and Russia." — Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law, Northeastern University
"There are so many aspects of how companies deal with the public that obfuscates what actually goes on and so many attempts to placate people using jargon. I’ve spoken to lawyers who write privacy policies who admit — they admit — that they aren’t written for the public." — Joseph Turow, Professor of Communications, University of Pennsylvania
"It’s time to take a bold step forward. The United States has an opportunity to redefine itself as the country that protects the trust that people give to companies. By embracing trust, the United States can become a leader on privacy instead of following the path of false promises and diminishing returns." — Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law, Northeastern University and Neil Richards, Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis
"These two principles – that Facebook is benevolent and that privacy is quaint and inefficient – drive everything Facebook does. They go a long way to explain why Facebook continued to give precious user data to a set of “trusted” partners years after the company claimed it had ended such a program." — Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia
"It’s time to regulate facial recognition and affect recognition. Claiming to ‘see’ into people’s interior states is neither scientific nor ethical." — Kate Crawford, Distinguished Research Professor, New York University
"I’m starting to see how a well-timed deep fake could very well disrupt the democratic process." — Danielle Citron, Professor of Law, University of Maryland
"Right now, users have little choice in the public exposure of their profile pictures. Every single one of them is set to “public” by default. Even if you try to limit your current profile picture visibility using Facebook’s privacy settings for the individual photo, it will still be public." — Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law, Northeastern University and Evan Selinger, Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology
"We need to be really vigilant about speech that gets really close to reducing people to non-humans and calling for their destruction. Even in vague ways, I think that is harmful and dangerous and troubling. It doesn’t mean it has to be removed. We just have to follow it." — Danielle Citron, Professor of Law, University of Maryland
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TAP Academics
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TAP Blog
Professors Daniel Solove and Woodrow Hartzog present some key quotes from their new book, BREACHED! Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It (Oxford University Press, 2022).
May 20, 2022
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Conversations on the Datafied State - Part Three: Race Surveillance, Resistance
May 25, 2022,
15th Annual Privacy Law Scholars Conference
June 2, 2022, Boston MA
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October 11, 2022, Phoenix, Arizona
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Fact Sheets
Social networking websites are places on the Internet where people can connect with those who share their interests. Additionally, they can function as economic “platforms” that serve different groups of many users, including consumers, advertisers, game developers, and others.
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Featured Article
Automated hiring, including automated video interviews, raises concerns about employment discrimination and privacy. Workplace wellness programs and electronic workplace surveillance raise similar concerns.
May 1, 2020
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