Leslie Harris
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Leslie Harris is the President and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology. Ms. Harris is responsible for the overall vision, direction and management of the organization and serves as the organization's chief spokesperson. Since joining CDT, she has been involved with a wide range of issues related to civil liberties and the Internet, including, government data- mining for counterintelligence, government secrecy, privacy, global Internet freedom, intellectual property, data security and Internet censorship.

Ms. Harris has over two decades of experience as a civil liberties, technology and Internet lawyer, public policy advocate and strategist in Washington. She testifies before Congress on issues related to technology, the Internet and civil liberties and writes, speaks on Internet issues and is regular contributor to several online publications and blogs.

Prior to joining CDT, Ms. Harris was the founder and president of Leslie Harris & Associates, a public policy a firm committed to harnessing the power of new information technologies for public good. She has played a lead role in several key pieces of Internet-related legislation, including E-rate, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act. She was also a key strategist and spokesperson in the effort to defeat the Communications Decency Act.

Prior to establishing Leslie Harris & Associates, Ms. Harris served in senior leadership positions in two prominent civil liberties organizations, People for the American Way, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Blog Entries by Leslie Harris

Warrant Requirement Past Due for Cell Phone Tracking

0 Comments | Posted April 3, 2012 | 10:47 AM

The Constitution provides a clear and simple rule for any time the government wants to search someone: it has to get a warrant, except in cases of emergency. However, the ACLU has documented how police across the U.S. are sidestepping that requirement when tracking people's location using their cell phones.

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NSA's Cyber Power Grab

0 Comments | Posted March 6, 2012 | 4:45 PM

As Congress moves to take up the complex issues of cybersecurity, the National Security Agency is gaining traction in its aggressive campaign to secure statutory authority to monitor private computer networks in real time to prevent cyber attacks.

The Washington Post reports, that the NSA's quest to lead...

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China as Poster Boy for IP Protection?

0 Comments | Posted December 9, 2011 | 11:30 AM

In the middle of one of the most contentious debates in Congress about intellectual property in recent memory, the MPAA appears to have finally found an analogy that it believes will persuade skeptics to support slash-and-burn piracy bills now before Congress: Google in China.

On Thursday, Variety

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Not Without A Warrant

0 Comments | Posted September 27, 2011 | 3:58 PM

Today a remarkable "left/right" coalition that includes ACLU, Americans for Tax Reform, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, TechFreedom, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, and my own organization, the Center for Democracy & Technology, has launched a campaign urging Congress to require warrants when the...

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Knocking the Rust off of the Anti-Hack Act

0 Comments | Posted August 4, 2011 | 5:54 PM

In the wake of a number of high-profile computer invasions, Congress is looking to fight back against malicious hackers. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently announced hearings identifying its preferred legislative vehicle in that race: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the Obama...

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Of Sense and Sensenbrenner

0 Comments | Posted July 13, 2011 | 2:06 PM

It's always refreshing when a Member of Congress uses point-blank declarative statements that leave little room for misinterpretation. Such was the case today when Rep. James Sensenbrenner, (R-WI), opened a hearing on a bill that would require major ISPs, private and non-profit companies, libraries, coffee shops and diners...

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Don't Tread on My Cloud

0 Comments | Posted June 20, 2011 | 12:41 PM

When Apple announced its iCloud service, commentators spilled much ink wondering if the data of users would be safe from hackers. But an equally important angle to the story was ignored: whether the data in the cloud has enough legal protection to keep it from the prying eyes of the...

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Cybersecurity: Lots of Answers, Now Let's Ask the Right Questions

0 Comments | Posted May 25, 2011 | 9:57 AM

Government and private institutions from the Pentagon to Wall Street regularly face significant threats from unseen and unknown assailants in cyberspace -- from casual hackers to nation-state actors. The bipartisan desire in Washington to craft a national cybersecurity plan to address this broad range of threats has led to a...

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Mobile Phone Tracking Highlights Need For Baseline Privacy Law

0 Comments | Posted May 10, 2011 | 4:52 PM

Lewis Carrol once famously said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will do." But today, with the ascent of smartphones and other mobile devices, there are likely to be quite a few people who know exactly where you are going and where you have been. And...

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DHS-NSA in Cybersecurity Swap: Success to Be Named Later

0 Comments | Posted October 15, 2010 | 12:16 PM

Americans have always loved to watch a good odd-couple law enforcement pairing, from Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker to Tom Hanks and a French mastiff. Earlier this week, we got the real-life equivalent when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Security Agency (NSA) released a memorandum of...

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Why Al Franken Was Right About Net Neutrality

0 Comments | Posted August 30, 2010 | 11:04 AM

Last week Senator Al Franken made an important speech, calling Internet neutrality "the First Amendment issue of our time." If I had heard that claim a few years ago, I would have thought it verged on political hyperbole. But after reading the comments filed by major ISPs in...

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Leave Them Kids Alone

0 Comments | Posted July 28, 2010 | 10:44 AM

At what age does society believe children should be able to manage their own online activities and their own personal information? Certainly a nine-year-old requires close adult supervision. And while a 12-year-old may be more Internet savvy, it is not unreasonable for the law to require parental involvement in decisions...

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FCC: Just Looking for a Little Jurisdiction

0 Comments | Posted July 21, 2010 | 2:27 PM

How do you use your Internet connection? Is it simply a way for you to get access to the news and entertainment handpicked by your ISP and offered up on portals like comcast.net, verizon.net, or rr.com? Is all you see and read at the mercy of some unseen editor, like...

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Facebook Vows to Retool Privacy Procedures

0 Comments | Posted May 26, 2010 | 1:48 PM

After months of privacy missteps and growing user unrest Facebook pressed the reset button on its user privacy controls, announcing a set of simpler, top-level privacy controls that allow users to make informed and meaningful choices about how their personal information is shared and accessed...

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Amazon Says Data Disclosure Will Invade Privacy on 'Massive Scale'

0 Comments | Posted April 21, 2010 | 10:51 AM

[This posting has been updated.]

North Carolina tax collectors want Amazon.com to turn over the names, addresses and a full list of everything any resident of the that state bought from the online retailer in the last seven years. That's right, every book, every CD, every DVD or videotape, about...

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When Enough is Enough: Corporate Responsibility in China and Beyond

0 Comments | Posted March 26, 2010 | 4:50 PM

In the wake of Google's announcement on Monday that they were redirecting mainland Chinese users to an uncensored version of search through Hong Kong, there has been speculation about the impact of that action on other U.S. companies operating in China. Now GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain name...

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Deep Impact: Italy's Conviction of Google Execs Threatens Global Internet Freedom

0 Comments | Posted February 24, 2010 | 8:49 AM

It's an old adage that bad cases make bad law, and today an Italian court made bad law that could sap the vitality from the Italian Internet and impact Internet freedom far beyond the Italian peninsula. The court convicted David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development, Peter Fleischer,...

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Buzz or Bust

0 Comments | Posted February 17, 2010 | 2:30 PM

Google's Buzz was a bust right out of the starting gate. The new stealth social media service--Buzz was launched without the usual public advance notice--was fraught with privacy concerns. The result was an immediate user backlash and firestorm of criticism from nearly every corner of the blogosphere. The ill-conceived release...

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Google and China: Reading Between the Tea Leaves

0 Comments | Posted January 13, 2010 | 3:33 PM

For the little we know about Google's bold decision to defy the stranglehold of censorship imposed on it by the Chinese government, there are volumes more we don't. I can imagine august business schools in years to come will dissect "The Google Ultimatum" in textbooks dedicated to corporate business strategies...

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Bono's Not So Beautiful Day

0 Comments | Posted January 6, 2010 | 11:34 AM

When a celebrity speaks about a cause of significant importance a lot of us listen. When that celebrity has the ability to make a real impact on that cause, we listen even more closely. And so is the case as it relates to U2's Bono, a respected human rights advocate...

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