Co-authored with Cynthia Conti-Cook and Pratika Katiyar and published in User Mag, this piece unpacks how age verification laws serve Big Tech profits and political theater while undermining rights for everyone online.| Rebecca Williams
Workshops and lectures on resisting surveillance, building privacy strategies, and imagining collective alternatives.| Rebecca Williams
A full archive of writings, workshops and lectures, art projects, presentations, and other updates exploring the politics of technology.| Rebecca Williams
Co-authored with Cynthia Conti-Cook and Sawyeh Esmaili and published in Convergence Magazine, this piece describes how digital IDs (and expanding mDL programs) threaten to expand government power to police people’s movement and reproductive care.| Rebecca Williams
Published by the Surveillance Resistance Lab, these resources include a live state-by-state status tracker, actionable organizing strategies, and a rights-based framework outlining key demands to resist digital ID systems.| Rebecca Williams
Published in Tech Policy Press, this piece explains how budget loopholes and cybersecurity authorities enabled the rise of DOGE’s parent agency, the U.S. Digital Service. It outlines how Congress could defund DOGE to reclaim oversight.| Rebecca Williams
Check out my talk, "Digital Identity Crisis: How Digital ID Threatens Democracy, Safety, and Our Humanity—and Just Alternatives" which succinctly describes harms created by historic IDs and new harms created by digital IDs, ways to resist digital IDs, and how to begin thinking beyond IDs.| Rebecca Williams
Self-expression, lifelong learning, and sublimating your technical day job with online art classes.| Rebecca Williams
I am pleased to announce I have joined the MuckRock Board of Directors. MuckRock is a nonprofit, collaborative news organization in the U.S. that promotes transparency for an informed democracy.| Rebecca Williams
Published in Artificial Intelligence in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust, this essay proposes how policies related to AI and data governance can support the restoration of rights and accountability for harms, drawing from restorative justice principles.| Rebecca Williams
Check out my talk, "Commercial Spyware, Data Brokers, and More - An Overview of Surveillance Technology Markets" which succinctly demystifies various surveillance markets.| Rebecca Williams
I am pleased to announce I have accepted a new role at the American Civil Liberties Union's National office as their first Data Governance Program Manager.| Rebecca Williams
The limits of "Customer Service" and "Administrative Burden" frameworks.| Rebecca Williams
Published by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center Technology and Public Purpose Project, this report examines the civil liberties risks posed by “smart city” technologies and offers a ten-point call to action to safeguard democratic values in urban tech infrastructure.| Rebecca Williams
Published by the Harvard Kennedy School, this piece provides practical tools for identifying surveillance infrastructure in your city—and shows how communities can influence oversight through public records and advocacy.| Rebecca Williams
Published by the Harvard Kennedy School, this critical analysis examines gaps in local surveillance oversight laws across the U.S. It identifies loopholes and enforcement challenges and offers recommendations for building more accountable and equitable frameworks.| Rebecca Williams
Co-authored with Liz Sisson and published by the Harvard Kennedy School, this piece challenges investors and governments to prioritize public purpose in “smart city” procurement and warns against treating cities as testing grounds for extractive technologies built on surveillance and data capture.| Rebecca Williams
Rebecca Williams explores how technology shapes power, governance, and relationships in ways that can sustain democracy, self-determination, and collective freedom.| Rebecca Williams
Hosted by the Brooklyn Public Library, this Burner Phone 101 workshop introduced participants to phone-related risk modeling, privacy-protective smartphone practices, the full spectrum of burner phone options, and when to leave phones behind entirely.| Rebecca Williams
