Center for Civil Rights and Technology
Ensuring technology works for all of us
A fair and just society does not differentiate between technological innovation and civil rights. Technology holds the potential to empower community voices, dissolve historic inequities, and build economic opportunities for everyone, but only with the necessary guardrails to protect against threats and bias – both intended and unintended. We deserve technology that works for all of us.
The Center for Civil Rights and Technology is a joint project of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The Center, launched in September 2023, serves as a one-of-its-kind hub for advocacy, education, and research at the intersection of civil rights and technology policy. Our experts dive into the most pressing policy issues in three key areas: AI and privacy, industry accountability, and broadband access.
Our Work & Impact
Ensuring Fair AI and Data Privacy for All
Innovation without equity and fairness is not innovation. We are in one of the most significant industrial revolutions of our time with the rapid growth of AI systems, but there are significant risks to our communities. Knowing that AI systems make decisions impacting people’s access to quality jobs, housing, and healthcare and play critical roles in our criminal legal system, we demand that AI systems be fair for all and free from bias.
Data privacy and fair AI are inextricably linked. Privacy rights are civil rights. AI and other algorithmic systems operate based on troves of personal data. As of now, 19 states have some form of comprehensive data privacy laws on the books. However, only two states’ data privacy laws include explicit prohibitions on discriminatory uses of data. Lack of federal action means 321.41 million people in the United States lack explicit civil rights data protections — and 132.59 million of those individuals are people of color. Ensuring that technology works for all of us also means preventing discriminatory data practices and algorithmic surveillance through common-sense guardrails.
PETITION Tell your legislators stop Elon Musk’s illegal overreach (March 2025)
DOGE and Government Data Privacy (March 2025)
State Data Privacy Laws & Civil Rights Protections (September 2024)
Snapshot: Civil Rights, AI, and Privacy (September 2024)
Letter to the Biden White House AI Executive Order (August 2023)
Comments to Office of Management and Budget on AI Guidance Memo (December 2023)
Holding Industry Accountable
Voters deserve to know that the information they are gathering online around voting and our elections is honest. Social media and technology users deserve an online and digital space that is free of dangerous hate speech. The technology industry, however, has largely abdicated its responsibility to its users, their freedom to vote, and their safety. A future where people can count on the internet and technology they use being free from falsehoods and hate is possible when industry steps up to the plate.
PETITION Holding Meta Accountable (March 2025)
Letter Demanding Big Tech Protect Voters Against Disinformation (June 2024)
Online Guide for Voters to Combat Digital Voting Disinformation (English/Spanish)
Statement on Facebook Civil Rights Audit (July 2020)
Expanding Broadband Access to Everyone
Without broadband access, our communities will never see the benefits of AI or other emerging technologies. Access to high quality, affordable internet is essential to attaining good-paying jobs, quality health care, education opportunities, and so many more critical goods and services. Despite this, over 24 million people lack access to quality broadband in the United States — especially people who live in rural areas, tribal lands, communities of color, and low-income neighborhoods. Everyone deserves quality and affordable broadband.
Affordable Connectivity Program One-pager (March 2025)
Snapshot: Affordable Connectivity Program (February 2025)
Census and Media/Telecom Task Force Comments to the Department of Commerce on Local Estimates of Internet Adoption (Project LEIA) (October 2024)
Letter In Support Of Affordable Connectivity Program (November 2023)
On February 13, the Center for Civil Rights and Technology, a new initiative created by The Leadership Conference Education Fund, hosted its first major event: Regulatory Code: AI, Civil Rights, and the Future of Our Democracy. The event brought together congressional, regulatory, and industry leaders for a convening on the future of AI regulation and the intersection with key civil rights issues, including voting, employment, and health care. The Center for Civil Rights and Technology is the first of its kind research and advocacy hub, and this is the first major event it hosted.
Latest News
New Trump Administration AI Guidance Leaves Civil Rights Behind
The federal government has a responsibility to everyone in the United States to set the standard for companies that create and use AI. Using AI without proper transparency and accountability is unacceptable.
DOGE and Government Data Privacy
A resource in collaboration between Center for Democracy & Technology and The Leadership Conference's Center for Civil Rights and Technology