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MARCH NEWSLETTER  

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March is Election Security Month at CDT

Welcome to CDT's first-ever Election Security Month. On Tuesday, 14 states, American Samoa, and overseas Americans voted in the presidential primary. By the end of the month, 18 more states and territories will have cast their ballots or caucused. For CDT, that means that we are focusing on election security more than ever.

Our Election Security and Privacy Project seeks to identify and update election cybersecurity practices and work through potential remedies in a few critical areas: state voter registration systems, election auditing, and campaign data. Our Free Expression team also supports this work, contributing their expertise in misinformation and examining how incorrect information about polling locations, times, and requirements, factor into voter suppression.

We are focusing on the national, state, and local levels, working to improve access to the ballot box and increase funding for election infrastructure. In the last year, we have trained election officials representing more than 47 million potential voters — and we are only getting started.

You can support our work on election security, voter-suppression misinformation, and so much more by contributing to our Election Security Month campaign here ([link removed]). As always, thank you for your support; together, we are putting democracy and individual rights at the center of the digital revolution. 

In Case You Missed It

Last week, CDT co-hosted an event with the Dickinson College of Law, Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, and the Brennan Center. The event, called “Hacking the U.S. Election: How Can We Make U.S. Elections More Secure?”, explored primary threats to U.S. elections including social engineering and vulnerabilities in our election system infrastructure. CDT’s Maurice Turner and Emma Llanso spoke. Video of the full event is available here ([link removed]).

On Wednesday, we announced ([link removed]) that Mallory Knodel has joined CDT as our Chief Technology Officer. She’ll lead CDT’s work on cybersecurity and internet standards, and will also contribute her substantive technical expertise across CDT’s policy areas. Welcome, Mallory!

On the most recent episode of CDT’s podcast, Tech Talk, we discussed the latest ([link removed]) in tech policy from Brussels with our EU lead, Jens-Henrik Jeppesen. For even more CDT-EU updates, subscribe ([link removed]) to our EU Tech Policy Brief or see the latest issue here ([link removed]). 

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CDT in the Press

Avery Gardiner joined Bloomberg ([link removed]) for a discussion on the FTC’s decision to review unreported mergers and acquisitions by several large tech firms.

Maurice Turner spoke with Mashable ([link removed]) about voting on Los Angeles’ new machines and with NBC ([link removed]) about security concerns with Voatz, a mobile voting app that West Virginia considered using in its state primary elections.

The Associated Press featured Lisa Hayes discussing ([link removed]) location data and why the U.S. needs a comprehensive privacy law, and Chris Calabrese on TikTok ([link removed]) and the Chinese government.

CDT in Person

Dust off those bowties and put the shine on your shoes — Tech Prom is only seven weeks away! We are at 75% capacity with space filling quickly, so secure your tables or tickets today.

We are pleased to announce that White Ford Bronco is returning for another year of 1990’s classic hits at our Dessert Reception and Concert — a perfect way to celebrate CDT’s 25th Anniversary. 

For more information about sponsorships, tickets, and confirmed sponsors to date, visit our Tech Prom home page ([link removed]). For questions about the event, contact our development team at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Tech%20Prom). 

Your support allows CDT to continue our important work. We hope you will join us at Tech Prom! 

Where: The Anthem, 901 Wharf Street SW, Washington, DC 20024

When: Thursday, April 23, 2020, 5:30-10:00

Partner Spotlight

CDT is proud to partner with Democracy Fund on our Election Security and Privacy Project. Through this collaboration, CDT is modernizing technical best practices for election cybersecurity, promoting the feasibility of secure, open, and feasible voting systems, reducing tensions in the election security space to allow collaborative solutions to flourish. Democracy Fund envisions an American democracy that is healthy, resilient, diverse, and champions organizations like CDT that use informed dialogue to protect the rights and dignity of every individual while also protecting our democratic principles. To learn more about the Democracy Fund, go to democracyfund.org ([link removed]).

Staff Spotlight
Lisa A. Hayes — Interim Co-CEO and Vice President, Strategy & General Counsel

How long have you been working in digital rights? Intermittently throughout my career. I got into the space when I was a young lawyer in Seattle, and represented the local public library when their computers were seized by the FBI right after the Patriot Act became law. I also represented teenagers who used early cell phone cameras to snap good-natured photos of their friends drinking or misbehaving, only to find those photos later used in court to convict their friends of crimes. Since those early days, at least part of my work has always been focused on protecting privacy in the digital age.

What is your favorite policy area here at CDT? I love all of our policy areas, but am especially excited when our teams are breaking new ground. How should we protect health data that isn’t regulated by HIPAA? Can we create better technical standards for voting machines? When should the government be allowed to track your movements without a warrant? How do we ensure deep fakes don’t destroy democracy? How do we better prepare people for the impact of AI on daily life? How can we make sure that education data helps students achieve in an ethical way? Our team is working on solutions to important emerging issues, and it is so much fun to learn from our experts.

What is the best book you've read recently? I’m loving the Kate Shugak series by Dana Stabenow. Kate lives with her half-wolf dog, Mutt, in the remote Alaskan wilderness. She’s smart, possesses an incredible work ethic, and does her best to solve mysteries, bridge different communities, and make sure that justice is done in the end. And she does it all while living in a small cabin without electricity, let alone a cell phone or the internet. After looking at my overflowing inbox some days, Kate’s off-the-grid lifestyle sounds pretty great. Except, of course, the part about having an outhouse during an Alaskan winter.

Dogs or cats? This is sort of an unfair question for a parent. If I picked one over the other, I am confident that our family pets would find ways to demonstrate their displeasure. Suffice it to say that I like most mammals, though I will note that if a dog is small enough to be beaten up by my cat, I don’t consider it to be a real dog. (Let the trolling begin!)

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