The Snapshot series is an initiative of the Center for Civil Rights and Technology (Center) meant to educate and empower civil and human rights organizations looking to engage on technology policy issues.
When Machines Discriminate: The Critical Role of Disparate Impact in AI Accountability (January 2026)
AI can and does discriminate. In fact, it can supercharge discrimination and bias to a level humans are incapable of alone. Algorithmic systems have already denied countless people access to quality jobs, affordable housing, and essential financial services—without disparate impact, these individuals will have little to no path for recourse. And without disparate impact, companies creating and using AI will have even less incentives to ensure their products actually work for everyone. This report outlines the origins of disparate impact, how AI systems perpetuate and amplify discrimination, and how Trump’s executive order fundamentally misunderstands the law.
Snapshot: Affordable Connectivity Program (February 2025)
Access to high quality, affordable internet is essential to attaining good-paying jobs, quality health care, education opportunities, and so many goods and services. Despite broadband internet’s importance, more than 24 million people lack access across the United States — especially people who live in rural areas, tribal lands, communities of color, and low-income neighborhoods. Snapshot: Affordable Connectivity Program outlines the past, present, and future status of the Affordable Connectivity Program and the fight for equitable access to broadband internet across the United States.
Snapshot: Civil Rights, AI, and Privacy (September 2024)
Snapshot: Civil Rights, AI, and Privacy was born from a convening of civil rights, technology policy, consumer protection, and labor leaders led by the Center on May 30, 2024. Civil society advocates discussed the state of civil rights in technology law and policy, focusing on federal comprehensive data privacy legislative efforts, as well as federal efforts to build guardrails around AI and related products, systems, and tools. The Snapshot outlines the conversations held that day, serving as a mile marker of the data privacy and AI federal policy dialogue at that time as well as a look forward.