Civil Rights Leader Laura W. Murphy Joins CDT Board of Directors

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is excited to welcome experienced civil rights leader Laura W. Murphy to its Board of Directors.

“Laura is a recognized leader who works tirelessly to put civil rights and civil liberties at the center of technology policy. She has spent decades advocating on a range of issues that sit at the core of CDT’s work – freedom of expression, freedom from surveillance, consumer privacy, anti-discrimination, and more,” said Alexandra Givens, CDT President & CEO. “We’re thrilled to benefit from her leadership and expertise, no longer as just an ally of CDT, but as a board member.”

Murphy has spent 40 years working in government and advocacy, including 17 years leading the ACLU Legislative Office, where she advanced executive branch policies and federal legislation on free speech, national security, internet privacy, and LGBT and civil rights. She has testified more than a dozen times before Congress. Recently, Murphy led the external team that conducted Facebook’s multiyear Civil Rights Audit, and she currently serves as an advisor to Airbnb in its efforts against discrimination on its platform. CDT was proud to collaborate with Laura as part of a coalition of civil rights and technology organizations on Airbnb’s Project Lighthouse, an initiative to use data to combat discrimination on the platform.

“I have worked with CDT since its founding in the early days of the internet, and I look forward to more closely collaborating with them to advance human rights and civil liberties in the digital world during a time of greater focus on tech policy,” Murphy said.

Murphy joins existing CDT Board members Julie Brill, Bill Bernstein, Alan Davidson, Alexandra Reeve Givens, Peter Hustinx, Carl Landwehr, Travis LeBlanc, Bruce Mehlman, Andrew J. Pincus, Philippa Scarlett, and Mark Seifert. For more information about CDT, visit cdt.org.