Latanya Sweeney, Harvard University, will present “How Technology Will Dictate Our Civic Future,” as part the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Distinguished Lecture Series on February 10th, 2022 from 12pm – 1:15pm EDT. 

Latanya Sweeney is the Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at the Harvard Kennedy School and in the a part of the faculty for the Department of Arts and Sciences. In addition, she is the Editor-in-Chief of Technology Science, director and founder of the Public Interest Tech Lab and of the Data Privacy Lab. Before coming to Harvard she was the Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, Technology and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Latanya Sweeney has 3 patents and more than 100 academic publications. She is a recipient of the prestigious Louis D. Brandeis Privacy Award, the American Psychiatric Association’s Privacy Advocacy Award, an elected fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, and has testified before government bodies worldwide. She earned her Ph.D. in computer science from MIT in 2001; the first Black woman to do so.

Talk Abstract: Data-driven algorithms and technology designers are the new policymakers. No one elected them, and most people do not know their names, but the decisions they make dictate the code by which we conduct our daily lives and govern our country. Challenges to the privacy and security of our personal data were part of the first wave of this change; as technology progresses, every demographic value and every law has come up for grabs and will likely be redefined by what technology does or does not enable. How will it all fit together or fall apart? This talk surveys unforeseen consequences and brainstorms on a way forward with new innovative technologies designed in the public interest. Examples include contact tracing and the election.

Register in advance here.