A Debate on Digital Privacy, Trust, Responsibility, and Ethics

This event will be held in-person and online.

Event Summary

Our lives have become increasingly dependent on computing and networking technologies and on the digital data exchanged on our behalves for virtually every aspect of our lives. Powerful analytics and AI methods coupled with cheap, large-scale computing and storage enable companies to develop detailed profiles of everyone, collecting and exchanging data behind the scenes in ways that are often invisible to most people. Thus, we are entrusting the well-being of our companies, organizations, schools, and lives to the digital practices of many companies—with a rapid growth in their capabilities for analysis. It is difficult-to-impossible for proper regulation to keep up to ensure proper usage of this data—and what is ‘proper?’ What should be regulated and how, and what should not (and what are the alternatives)? 

Join us for a spirited debate event in which we will explore all sides to the challenging questions in the areas of digital identity and privacy, data monetization and trust, and the responsibilities and ethical considerations we have to consider to determine what is and isn’t fair, proper, legal, and safe. Audience questions will be posed to the debate participants after the moderator questions. 

Registration and Attendance Instructions

Join us at the Austin Central Library, 710 W. César Chávez St. where you will be checked in at the front desk. Parking information can be found here.

In-person attendees, please join us from 5:15 to 6:30 for networking and food. We look forward to chatting with you face-to-face!

About the Moderators

David Dunmoyer

Sherri Greenberg

Sherri R. Greenberg is a professor of practice and fellow of the Max Sherman Chair in State and Local Government at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and she is a professor of practice at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Additionally, she is the LBJ School Assistant Dean for State and Local Government Engagement. She is a primary researcher for, and Chairperson of, Good Systems, Ethical AI at UT Austin. Greenberg serves on the Austin Smart City Alliance Board of Directors and the Austin Forum on Technology & Society Advisory Board. Previously, she was a member of the Central Health Board of Managers and a member of the City of Austin Housing Investment Review Committee. 

Greenberg has served as a senior advisor to Austin Mayor Steve Adler. She was a Texas state representative from 1991 to 2001, and she chaired the House Pensions and Investments Committee and the Select Committee on Teacher Health Insurance. She also served on the House Appropriations, Economic Development, Elections, and Science and Technology Committees. Previously, Greenberg was the City of Austin capital finance manager and a public finance officer at Standard & Poor’s.

Her teaching and research interests include technology policy, state and local government, housing, homelessness, transportation, healthcare, public finance, and campaigns and elections. Recently, she has had funding from the National Science Foundation, the City of Austin, UT Good Systems, the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the Cisco Foundation, Microsoft, MITRE, and the State of Texas.

Anastasia Uglova, Founder, Agency

Anastasia is a public interest technologist, writer, and speaker with expertise in digital privacy and identity, secure AI, and responsible innovation. She is the founder of Agency, a membership organization of founders, investors, engineers, and cryptographers working in privacy, AI, and decentralized technologies, and host of The Privacy Podcast. With experience across startups and large organizations such as NBC, NPR, and the U.S. Senate, Anastasia has also worked internationally in Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya. She has an M.S. in Information Security and Privacy from UT Austin and a B.A. in Government and International Relations from Cornell University.

Jay Williams