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The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest organization working to keep the Internet open, innovative, and free. With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.

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Our Events

Deven McGraw will present during an audio seminar on "Best Practices & New Issues in Data De-Identification for Healthcare & EHRs
Deven McGraw will present during an audio seminar on "Best Practices & New Issues in Data De-Identification for Healthcare & EHRs," from 2-2:30 p.m. eastern time. For information, contact www.melamedia.com.
December 1, 2009 - 2:00pm - 2:30pm
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Greg Nojeim will speak about reform of the USA PATRIOT Act at a panel discussion at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.
Congress is considering legislation that would re-authorize three provisions of the Patriot Act that expire 12/31/09.  Nojeim will stress the need to reform National Security Letters, which are issued without judicial authorization to seek sensitive records about anyone that may relate to an anti-terrorism investigation.  Two DOJ reports have found widespread abuse of NSLs.
December 3, 2009 - 12:59pm - 1:59pm

Cato Institute, Washington, DC
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Leslie Harris will participate in an FTC Privacy Panel
Leslie Harris will participate in an FTC Privacy Panel entitled "Benefits and Risks of Collecting, Using, and Retaining Consumer Data" in Washington, DC.
December 7, 2009 - 9:15am - 9:45am

Washington, DC
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Our Projects

  • Policy Beta
    Campaign

    Our newly re-launched blog, featuring all-new technologies.


  • Privacy
    Initiative

    We have crafted a new privacy policy for cdt.org that we hope will be a model to show that new technology is not a barrier to privacy.

  • Net Neutrality
    Initiative

    The FCC has taken bold new steps toward Internet Neutrality. CDT is leading the way in ensuring Net Neutrality rules are fair.


Recent Media Attention

Handy Comparison Chart Tracks Proposals to Amend Patriot Act
in Wired

Confused by all the proposed changes to the Patriot Act ricocheting through the Capitol? The Center for Democracy and Technology has put together a handy chart comparing the current law with the various amendments in the House and Senate.

The chart compares proposed amendments (.pdf) to National Security Letters (NSLs) and the so-called “lone wolf” provisions of the Patriot Act. The proposals have only been passed by the judiciary committees, and face further amendments before they hit the full House and Senate for votes.

According to Gregory Nojeim, CDT’s director of project on freedom, security and technology, although neither of the current proposals goes far enough in fixing all of the problems that civil libertarians find in the Patriot Act, they do show improvements.

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How Rapleaf Is Data-Mining Your Friend Lists to Predict Your Credit Risk
in Fast Company

Rapleaf is one of a multitude of innovative start-ups currently driving the burgeoning social media monitoring (SMM) space. Going by names like Trendrr, Trackur, and Sentiment Metrics, SMM firms use sophisticated algorithms to collect and analyze the vast amount of personal data consumers leave in their online wake. Post a comment about a book on Amazon? Review a restaurant on Yelp? Rapleaf's computers analyze your words and file them away in your "social graph."

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Jobs With Us

Grants Manager (Posted October 29, 2009)
Spring 2010 Internship (Posted November 11, 2009)
Spring 2010 Clerkship (Posted November 11, 2009)
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