Eleni Manis and Jennifer Lee: The Fight Against Surveillance State

In this episode, we have S.T.O.P Research Director, Eleni Manis and ACLU's Tech and Liberty Project Manager, Jennifer Lee talk about some of the worst instances of government surveillance, the communities which are most affected, and how commercial surveillance is intertwined with government surveillance. They also share the key things they're working on to fight against surveillance tech and critically helpful ideas on how we can join the fight.

Eleni Manis is Research Director at S.T.O.P. (Surveillance Technology Oversight Project), where she designs and coordinates the work of the S.T.O.P. research team. She joined S.T.O.P. after working on government agencies’ technology policies at the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Operations, where she analyzed legislation on emerging technologies, authored the City’s reply to FCC broadband decisions, and did research for the nation’s first automated decision systems task force. 

Jennifer Lee is the technology and liberty lead at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU-WA), where she advocates for state and local legislation to regulate powerful surveillance and AI-based technologies. She leads ACLU-WA's work drafting and implementing technology policies that protect everyone's privacy and civil liberties and center community voices.