Today we’re talking to Albert Fox Cahn, Founder and Executive Director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P); and we discuss S.T.O.P.’s mission to push back against surveillance and avoid having a dystopian surveillance state in the future, evaluating the effectiveness of surveillance for stopping crimes vs. the invasion of privacy, and why it takes organizing on a local level to curtail state surveillance. 

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! 

Check out more about Albert and S.T.O.P at https://www.stopspying.org/post-act

About Albert Fox Cahn:

Albert Fox Cahn is the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project’s ( S.T.O.P.’s) founder and executive director. He is also a Practitioner-in-Residence at N.Y.U Law School’s Information Law Institute and a fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, Ashoka, and TED. Albert started S.T.O.P. with the belief that local surveillance is an unprecedented threat to public safety, equity, and democracy.

Albert is a frequent commentator, with more than 100 articles in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Guardian, WIRED, Slate, NBC Think, Newsweek, and other publications. He frequently lectures at leading universities and speaks at leading technology governance forums. Albert previously served as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he advised Fortune 50 companies on technology policy, antitrust law, and consumer privacy. 

Albert also serves on the New York Immigration Coalition’s Immigrant Leaders Council, IEEE Standards Association P3119 AI Procurement Working Group, and is an editorial board member for the Anthem Ethics of Personal Data Collection. He was also a founding member of the the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund’s Advisory Council. Albert received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School (where he was an editor of the Harvard Law & Policy Review), and his B.A. in Politics and Philosophy from Brandeis University. 

About S.T.O.P:

WHAT IS STOP

The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) is a 501(C)(3), non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider.

OUR MISSION

S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, working to abolish local governments’ systems of mass surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, indigenous peoples, and communities of color, particularly the unique trauma of anti-Black policing.

OUR VISION

S.T.O.P. fights to ensure that technological advancements don’t come at the expense of age-old rights. We hope to transform New York City and State into models for the rest of the United States on how to harness novel technologies without adversely impacting marginalized communities. S.T.O.P. also believes that directly-impacted communities are best equipped to lead this fight and that their voices should be at the forefront for this and any movement.  We believe in pushing for radical changes where possible and incremental gains where necessary.