How long have you been working in digital rights? My first day on the job in the world of digital rights — as a First Amendment fellow at the National ACLU office in New York City, litigating internet free speech issues — was on September 10th, 2001. My primary interests then were online speech and copyright, which I now currently teach in the context of AI regulation at Georgetown Law. But the events of my second day on the job changed the course of my career, and I ended up focusing for the next decade on internet privacy and surveillance in the wake of 9/11 and the USA PATRIOT Act. It was while doing that work at my next organization, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that I first collaborated with colleagues at CDT, which eventually led to my working here.
What is your proudest moment while here at CDT? This is my second time working at CDT; I was previously the Free Expression Project Director about ten years ago, then rejoined last year as Senior Advisor on AI Governance. In both instances, my proudest moments have revolved around building big-tent coalitions to achieve big policy impacts, a CDT speciality.
A decade ago I helped build a broad coalition of civil society and industry stakeholders to demand more transparency around the government's surveillance orders to internet and phone companies, leading Congress to pass new transparency requirements. And this year, I helped build another coalition of civil society and academic experts to highlight the benefits of an open AI ecosystem and push back against the idea of new restrictions on the open publication of large AI models, which could threaten free speech, competition, and security. We've yet to see whether we'll win that argument too, but we're crossing our fingers.
What is your fandom? If I have to pick only one, it would definitely be science fiction, in print and on screen. Many, many folks working in tech policy do what they do in no small part because of the science fiction they read and watched as younger people. Good sci-fi is like a gymnasium for your mind, forcing you to build the skill of thinking through all the ways a new technology might change a society for good or ill, which is a key part of what tech policy professionals do.
Sci-fi narratives also often directly impact tech development and tech policy discourse. For a recent example of how sci-fi stories can influence how we think about new technologies, look no further than the competing sci-fi-tinged visions of AI utopian tech optimists versus those predicting a "Terminator"-style AI dystopia; each of these visions are animating different communities in the policy conversation over how to regulate AI. I find this feedback loop between fictional tomorrows and today's real world tech policy issues so personally fascinating that, in my spare time, I study that cycle of influence as a fellow at Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination.
What is the most recent cultural activity you’ve been to? Mother's Day Jazz Brunch at The Hamilton, a storied old music venue and restaurant next to the White House. It's one of the best southern brunch buffets you'll find in DC — biscuits and gravy, fried chicken and waffles, that sort of thing — paired with excellent live jazz. The music, the food, and the friendly and appreciative audience of celebrating families were all comforting reminders of my beloved hometown of New Orleans.
