ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Northeastern University, Boston, MA July 2021- Present
Assistant Professor of Law and Political Science: On leave
Rutgers Law School, Camden, NJ August 2020-July 2021
Visiting Scholar: Published peer-reviewed and public research on the social and civil rights implications of data driven technologies, including artificial intelligence. Developing policy interventions and regulatory strategies regarding data driven technologies, government and commercial surveillance, racial discrimination, and the technology sector. Provided technical assistance to government officials, policymakers, researchers, legal advocates, organizers, technologists, and philanthropies.
New York University School of Law, New York, NY January 2020-July 2020
Adjunct Professor: Innovation Externship Seminar (Spring 2020).
AI Now Institute, NYU, New York, NY April 2018- October 2020
Director of Policy Research: Designed, implemented, and coordinated AI Now’s policy research strategy and policy advocacy initiatives on topics of technology policy, civil rights, privacy, and data protection. Led research teams and published interdisciplinary research on the social and civil rights implications of artificial intelligence and algorithmic technologies, and legal and policy interventions to address emerging technology issues. Provided technical assistance, strategy development, and capacity building resources to government officials, policymakers, researchers, and legal advocates regarding technology platform regulation, emerging technology policy, privacy, anti-discrimination, and data protection.
Fordham University School of Law, New York, NY January 2017-June 2018
Adjunct Professor: Surveillance and Privacy in the Digital Age (Spring 2017 & 2018).
LEGAL EXPERIENCE
Mastercard, Purchase, NY April 2023 - Present
Senior Counsel, Artificial Intelligence
Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC February 2022- April 2023
Attorney Advisor to the Chair: Advised the Chair on enforcement, policy, regulatory, and organizational matters for the Commission and served as the agency’s subject matter expert on emerging technology regulation, technology platform accountability, privacy, antidiscrimination, and data protection. Drafted, reviewed, and edited statements, speeches, letters, reports, policy statements, research memoranda, and other publications for the Chair, the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and agency offices. Developed and implemented the Chair’s priority projects including rulemaking, policy statements, legal theory development, investigative lead generation, stakeholder engagement, creation of new offices and roles within the agency, and cross-agency strategy development on emerging technology, technology platform accountability, privacy, and data protection. Served as the Chair’s liaison for interagency and intergovernmental collaborations, international cooperation, and congressional technical assistance.
White House Office of Science Technology Policy, Washington, DC July 2021- February 2022
Senior Policy Advisor for Data and Democracy: Developed legal analysis and socio-technical policy proposals and executive branch strategies for technology platform accountability, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, privacy, data governance, surveillance, regulatory review, government technology procurement, and international technology policy. Planned, co-led, and facilitated a variety of U.S. Government and external stakeholder engagement efforts for OSTP and Executive Office of the President (EOP) partners. Collaborated on public speeches, op-eds, presentations, and other public messaging on technology policy issues. Served as a subject matter expert for the OSTP director and other senior advisors to the President of the United States on technology policy and civil rights issues.
American Civil Liberties Union of New York, New York, NY January 2015- April 2018
Legislative Counsel: Identified, monitored, and analyzed legislative and legal developments on privacy, emerging technologies, surveillance, digital security, education, fair housing, criminal justice, and civil rights issues. Developed and implemented local and statewide legislative reform strategies including, advising government officials, developing cross-departmental work plans, lobbying, and drafting legislation and subject matter resources. Collaborated with local and national stakeholders to created integrated advocacy campaigns and inform the organization’s strategic priorities.
American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Equality, New York, NY May 2014- December 2014
Volunteer Attorney: Perform legal research, draft legal memos and develop resources to support litigation on voting rights and disability rights issues.
The Center for HIV Law and Policy, New York, NY July 2012 – December 2014
Staff Attorney: Performed legal, public health and policy research and draft legal memoranda, position papers and advocacy documents. Created and managed state and federal legislative and legal response systems, including drafting amicus briefs, drafting legislation and providing post-conviction relief assistance. Coordinated state and federal HIV advocacy campaigns. Provided legal and legislative analysis to state and federal legislators and advocates on HIV-related legal issues. Developed new HIV-related legal and policy resources. Recruited and supervised volunteers, legal interns and support staff.
HIP Investor, San Francisco, CA January – July 2012
Legal and Compliance Analyst: Managed legal compliance and document retention policies for financial regulatory audits; performed due diligence for California Clean Energy Fund contracts and assessed legal liabilities of potential investment opportunities for investor portfolios and the HIP 100 Index.
Facebook, Palo Alto, CA September – November 2011
Legal Triage Associate: Reviewed and evaluated international, federal and state government requests for user data. Advised departments on internal response procedures and legal compliance risks with the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Stored Communications Act, Wiretap Act, and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
EDUCATION
Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA
J.D., May 2011
Honors: Valerie Gordon Book Award (2009), Denise Carty-Bennia Memorial Award (2011)
Research Assistant: Worked with Professor Margaret Burnham in the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. Conducted investigative research on civil rights cold cases, including a landmark 1983 lawsuit. Helped develop and supervise a legal clinic.
Activities: Black Law Student Association; Student Bar Association, Student and Academic Affair Committee, Committee Against Institutional Racism and Appointments Committee; Society for Restorative Justice; Entertainment and Sports Law Society.
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
B.A. with Honors in College of Social Studies (interdisciplinary major of Economics, Government, History and Social Theory), May 2008
Honors: Damien Reeves Book Prize
Activities: Senior Class President; Residential Advisor; Wesleyan University Writer’s Workshop, Workshop Tutor and Mentor; Historical Narratives (Wesleyan Undergraduate History Journal), Editorial Board; Wesleyan Student Assembly, Student Budgetary Committee Representative; AIDS and Sexual Health Awareness, Office of Community Service Co-Coordinator, Campus Awareness and Fundraising Coordinator, Sexual Health Educator; Wesleyan Without Borders-Oaxaca, Fundraising Coordinator; Wesleyan Social Committee, Chair; and Wesleyan Women’s Water Polo.
PUBLICATIONS
Treatise and Edited Volumes
Author, Criminal Law Chapter, in AIDS AND THE LAW (Skinner-Thompson ed., 5th ed. 2016) (supplemented annually)
Editor, Criminal Law Chapter and Prisons and Jails Chapter, in AIDS AND THE LAW (Skinner-Thompson ed., 5th ed. 2015) (supplemented annually)
Academic Articles & Essays
Suspect Development Systems: Databasing Marginality and Enforcing Discipline, 55 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 813 (2022) (with Amba Kak)
Racial Segregation and the Data-Driven Society: How Our Failure to Reckon with Root Causes Perpetuates Separate and Unequal Realities, 36 Berkeley Tech. L. J. 1051 ( 2022)
Defining and Demystifying Automated Decision Systems, 81 MD. L. REV. 785 (2022)
Government Data Practices as Necropolitics and Racial Arithmetic, Data and Pandemic Politics, 1 (October 2020)
Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems, and Justice, 94 N.Y.U.L. REV. 192 (2019) (with Jason Schultz & Kate Crawford)
Public Research & White Papers
Smart-City Digital ID Projects: Reinforcing Inequality and Increasing Surveillance through Corporate “Solutions” (Immigrant Defense Project, December 2021) (with Mizue Aizeki)
Best Practices for Government Procurement of Data-Driven Technologies (May 2021)
Facial Recognition in the Public Sector: The Policy Landscape (German Marshall Fund, February 2021)
Addressing the Harmful Effects of Predictive Analytics Technologies, in #Tech2021 Ideas for Digital Democracy (German Marshall Fund, November 2020)
Bottom-Up Biometric Regulation: A Community’s Response to Using Face Surveillance in Schools in Regulating Biometrics: Global Approaches and Open Questions (AI Now Institute, September 2020) (with Stefanie Coyle)
Confronting Black Boxes: A Shadow Report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force (AI Now Institute, December 2019)
Litigating Algorithms 2019 US Report: New Challenges to Government Use of Algorithmic Decision Systems (AI Now Institute, September 2019) (with Jason Schultz & Vincent Southerland)
A Governance Framework for Algorithmic Accountability and Transparency (European Parliamentary Research Service, 2019) (with Ansgar Koene, Chris Clifton, Yohko Hatada, Helena Webb, Menisha Patel, Caio Machado, Jack LaViolette, and Dillon Reisman)
AI Now 2018 Report (AI Now Institute 2018) (with Meredith Whittaker, Kate Crawford, Roel Dobbe, Genevieve Fried, Elizabeth Kaziunas, Varoon Mathur, Sarah Myers West, Jason Schultz, and Oscar Schwartz)
Litigating Algorithms: Challenging Government Use of Algorithmic Decision Systems (AI Now Institute 2018) (with Jason Schultz & Vincent Southerland)
Algorithmic Accountability Policy Toolkit (AI Now Institute 2018) (with Dillon Reisman)
Ending & Defending Against HIV Criminalization: A Manual for Advocates on State and Federal Laws and Prosecutions (2d ed. 2014) (with Shoshana Golden & Catherine Hanssens)
AWARDS AND HONORS
Magnus Mukoro Award for Integrity in Forensic Science, The Legal Aid Society, March 2022
Reidenberg-Kerr Award for Outstanding Scholarship by a Junior Scholar, Privacy Law Scholars Conference, June 2021
2021 International Strategy Forum Fellow, Schmidt Futures, April 2021
32 Innovators Who Are Building A Better Future, Wired Magazine, December 2020
2014 Poz 100, Poz Magazine, November 2014
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Washington, DC August 2020-August 2021
Senior Fellow, Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiatives
Open Society Foundation, Research Grant 2020- 2021
Ford Foundation, Research Grant 2020- 2021
Macarthur Foundation, Research Grant 2020
Annie E. Casey Foundation, Research Grant 2020- 2021
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
The Center on Race, Inequality and The Law, NYU School of Law, New York, NY June 2022- Present
Advisory Board
Northwestern Open Access to Court Records Initiative, Evanston, IL August 2020- Present
Advisory Board
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, Boston, MA May 2011 - Present
Advisory Board
The Center for Investigative Reporting, Emeryville, CA March 2020- Present
Advisory Committee
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Washington, DC March 2020- Present
Advisory Board
Lacuna Technologies, Palo Alto, CA January 2021- July 2023
Board of Directors
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT June 2019- June 2022
Board of Trustees
Foxglove, London, UK February 2021- February 2022
Advisory Council
The Research and Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice April 2020- December 2021
SMART Tool Advisory Committee Member (project for the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice)
Ada Lovelace Institute, London, UK January 2020- August 2021
Working Group on the Future of Data Regulation
The Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, NYU, New York, NY September 2019- Present
Advisory Board & Affiliate
College and Community Fellowship, New York, NY
June 2017- August 2021
Board of Directors, Board Vice Chair
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Panelist, AI Governance and Accountability Panel, German Marshall Fund (Virtual), June 2023
Speaker, Laying Down The Law With The FTC, AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O (New York, NY), October 2022
Panelist, Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity: Prospects and Perils, Second Circuit Judicial Conference (Bolton Landing, NY), June 2022
Panelist, Complex Surveillance, Beyond Big Data Surveillance: Freedom and Fairness (Virtual & Ottawa, Canada), May 2022
Speaker, Human Discretion and Assumptions in AI Development, An ONC Artificial Intelligence Showcase (Virtual), January 2022
Keynote Speaker, Data Justice Conference 2021: Civic Participation in the Datafied Society, Cardiff University (Virtual), May 2021
Speaker, Racist By Design: How Systemic Racism and Inherent Biases Manifest in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Beyond, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, April 2021
Speaker, Bias^2 Seminar, Harvard Data Science Initiative (Virtual), February 2021
Panelist and Author, BTLJ-BCLT Symposium: Technology Law as a Vehicle for Anti-Racism, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (Virtual), November 2020
Panelist, Doing Some Good with Machine Learning, International Conference on Machine Learning (Virtual), July 2020
Speaker and Panelist, The Role of AI in the Criminal Justice System, AAAS (Virtual), June 2020
Speaker, The Future II: Use of Artificial Intelligence in Policing and Risk Assessments, Duke Law School (Durham, NC), March 2020
Panelists, Towards a Social Good? Theories of Change in AI, NeurIPS 2019, December 2019
Speaker and Panelist, Rights, Discrimination, and Artificial Intelligence, National Academies of Science (Washington, DC), September 2019
Speaker and Panelist, Equity Diversity, and Data Science in Genomics Workshop, National Human Genome Research Institute (Champaign, IL), September 2019
Co-Organizer, Litigating Algorithms Workshop 2019, New York University (New York, NY), June 2019
Speaker, Dirty Data, Bad Decisions, CogX (London, United Kingdom), June 2019
Speaker, Shaping The State of Machine Learning Algorithms Within Policing Workshop, Centre for Information Rights, University of Winchester, and Royal United Services Institute (London, United Kingdom), June 2019
Speaker, Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems and Society, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), April 2019
Speaker and Panelist, Ethics in AI, MIT Tech Review (San Francisco, CA), March 2019
Panelist, Automated Decision-Making in the Criminal Justice System/: The American Experience, Law Commission of Ontario (Toronto, Canada), March 2019
Panelist, Algorithms and Criminal Justice – Litigating the Black Box, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and The Berkeley Center on Law and Technology (Berkeley, CA), November 2018
Panelist, Bits, Bytes, and Governance Challenges: The Future of Artificial Intelligence, Paris Peace Forum (Paris, France), November 2018
Co-organizer, Litigating Algorithms Workshop 2018, New York University Law School (New York, NY), June 2018
Participant, Government Automated Decision Systems: A Task Force for New York City Workshop, Fordham Law School Center on Law and Information Policy & GALATEA (New York, NY), May 2018
Panelist, Accountability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, New York University School of Law Latham & Watkins Forum (New York, NY), February 2018
Panelist, Community Discussion: I-81, Racial Isolation and Economic Exclusion in Onondaga County, New York Civil Liberties Union (Syracuse, NY), November 2017
SELECTED MEDIA
Film
How to Make Computers Less Biased, The Economist, February 10, 2022
The Social Dilemma, Netflix & Exposure Labs, September 9, 2020
Does Predictive Policing Enforce Racial Bias?, Thomson Reuters Foundation, August 27, 2020
Podcasts
Biased Intelligence, WHYY & Princeton University’s AI Nation, April, 22, 2021
Decrypting Big Tech’s Data Hoard, Science Friday, March 19, 2021
What Algorithms Say About You, Brave New Planet, November 2, 2020
Sipping on NYPD Tears: Public Oversight of Surveillance Technologies, We Be Imagining Podcast, June 22, 2020
AI Now’s Rashida Richardson: Free-range Facial Recognition, The Sunday Times’ Danny in the Valley, June 15, 2020
Should We Be Afraid of AI in the Criminal-Justice System, The Atlantic’s Crazy/Genius, June 20, 2019
Interviews
The Women in AI making a difference, Tech Crunch, February 20, 2024
Artificial Intelligence poised to hinder, not help, access to justice, Reuters, April 25, 2023
How Much Can Duolingo Teach Us?, The New Yorker, April 17, 2023
A Move for ‘Algorithmic Reparation’ Calls for Racial Justice in AI, Wired Magazine, December 23, 2021
Bias isn’t the only problem with credit scores—and no, AI can’t help, MIT Technology Review, June 17, 2021
U.N. Panel: Technology in Policing Can Reinforce Racial Bias, New York Times, November 26, 2020.
Does Predictive Policing Enforce Racial Bias, Thomas Reuters Foundation, August 27, 2020
A new law seeks to expose the NYPD’s secret surveillance technology, Document Journal, July 29, 2020
Predictive Policing Algorithms are racist. They need to be dismantled, MIT Technology Review, July 17, 2020
Can Algorithms Select Students “Most Likely to Succeed”?, Slate, July 10, 2020
State’s Automated Systems Are Trapping Citizens in Bureaucratic Nightmares With Their Lives on the Line, TIME Magazine, May 28, 2020
State of Michigan’s mistake led to man filing bankruptcy, Detroit Free Press, December 22, 2019
As More Departments Adopt ‘Predictive Policing’ Practices, Concerns About Discrimination Follow, Wisconsin Public Radio, February 21, 2019
‘Textalyzer’ Aims to Curb Distracted Driving, But What About Privacy?, NPR’s All Tech Considered, April 27, 2017
Editorials
Racial Segregation and Data-Driven Society, ACM Interactions, Volume 29, Issue 3, May-June 2022 (with Eric Corbett)
States are failing on big tech and privacy — Biden must take the lead, The Hill, February 5, 2021 (with Albert Fox Cahn)
The Higher Education Industry is Embracing Predatory and Discriminatory Student Data Practices, Slate, January 13, 2021 (with Marci Lerner Miller)
It’s Time for a Reckoning About This Foundational Piece of Police Technology, Slate, September 11, 2020 (with Amba Kak)
Artificial Intelligence Policies Must Focus on Impact and Accountability, Centre for International Governance Innovation, May 1, 2020 (with Amba Kak)
Win in the war against algorithms: Automated Decision Systems are taking over far too much of government, New York Daily News, December 15, 2019
Can Technology Help Undo the Wrongs of The Past?, Doteveryone, August 10, 2018
TSA Tests See-Through Scanners on Public in New York’s Penn Station, ACLU blog, March 2, 2018
Equity should be at the heart of I-81 planning process, Syracuse Post-Standard, March 10, 2017