Every year, in celebration of Data Privacy Day, the ITS Privacy Office, in collaboration with the School of Information, organizes Privacy@Michigan programming that explores pressing privacy-related issues and topics.
This year's events kicked off on January 28 with a transatlantic conversation between Elodie Vialle, a prominent international journalist and human rights activist, and Lynette Clementson, the Charles R. Eisendrath Director of Wallace House Center for Journalists. Vialle and Clementson shed light on the many digital threats journalists and news organizations face – from surveillance and doxxing, to hacking and cyber mobbing. They discussed the important measures that need to be taken to keep journalists and the press protected, and addressed great questions from a highly engaged audience. If you missed the live event, you can watch the recording on the Safe Computing event page.
On February 3, Privacy@Michigan welcomed Dr. Lauren Girouard, a post-doctoral researcher focused on examining how children think about, trust, and learn from digital technologies including AI. In her presentation at the Michigan League, Dr. Girouard explored the complexities of keeping children safe online: distributed responsibilities among parents, teachers, government, and companies; commercial interests in capturing children’s attention; a deficient regulatory framework; and children’s evolving attitudes towards technology and privacy. She also shared preliminary insights from her latest research project. Watch the recording of this dynamic event on Safe Computing.
February programming will wrap up with an examination of big tech’s influence on Detroit's future by privacy researcher Dr. Chris Gilliard and artist and organizer Tawana Petty. Add the event to your calendar and join us on February 24 at the Michigan League.
In March, we are excited to host Albert Fox Cahn, founder in residence of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. Finally, Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and author of Privacy's Defender, joins us to wrap up our Privacy@Michigan offerings on March 26. Visit Privacy@Michigan for more details.
These events are free and open to the public, so please plan to attend and help us share broadly!