Ryan Calo

Ryan Calo is an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Law and a former research director at CIS. A nationally recognized expert in law and emerging technology, Ryan's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Wired Magazine, and other news outlets. Ryan serves on several advisory committees, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Future of Privacy Forum. He co-chairs the American Bar Association Committee on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and serves on the program committee of National Robotics Week.

You can read Ryan's work on SSRN and follow him on Twitter.

The Cybersecurity 202: Privacy experts fear a boom in coronavirus surveillance

Date published:

April 14, 2020

The Washington Post

"“My concern is that out of desperation we will turn to technology and put in place a massive surveillance apparatus at a tangible loss to civil liberties that doesn’t even accomplish the goals it sets out to in terms of saving human lives and healing the economy,” Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor focused on cybersecurity and privacy, told me." Read more about The Cybersecurity 202: Privacy experts fear a boom in coronavirus surveillance

Congress Hears Options—And Concerns—for Using Smartphone Data to Fight COVID-19

Date published:

April 10, 2020

NextGov

"“There can be little doubt that better access to and analysis of information will play a prominent role in addressing the ongoing pandemic,” wrote Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law and co-director of the university’s Tech Policy Lab. “Yet even as we bring to bear the considerable ingenuity of our academic, public, and private institutions, my research into privacy and technology counsels a measure of humility and caution regarding the use of data analytics to address this crisis.” Read more about Congress Hears Options—And Concerns—for Using Smartphone Data to Fight COVID-19

How San Francisco plans to trace every coronavirus case and contact

Date published:

April 8, 2020

MIT Technology Review

"But it’s not clear whether a critical mass of the population will ever hear about or choose to download these apps, says Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who focuses on digital privacy issues. If few people enroll themselves in such tracing efforts, it could at least undermine their effectiveness and may even give some users a false sense of confidence about where they can safely go out in public, he says." Read more about How San Francisco plans to trace every coronavirus case and contact

Behind the global efforts to make a privacy-first coronavirus tracking app

Date published:

April 7, 2020

NBC News

""There's really never been a time in history where a clever app means the difference between widespread calamity and people being able to go about their lives," said Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who studies privacy. "It's just not plausible. This is a serious emergency we're in."

Calo said an app could fail in multiple ways even if it's designed well. For example, could a prankster visit several grocery stores and then sign up for the app as a false positive to cause trouble, sparking unnecessary panic? Read more about Behind the global efforts to make a privacy-first coronavirus tracking app

Zoom, video conferencing apps under privacy commissioner's microscope

Date published:

April 5, 2020

The Sydney Morning Herald

"Ryan Calo, a law professor and co-founder of the Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington, said Zoom was undergoing "an enormous stress test" because of the coronavirus, which exposed the weaknesses of its default settings. "You can change the settings, you can add password protection. But from a privacy and security perspective it's not user friendly," he said." Read more about Zoom, video conferencing apps under privacy commissioner's microscope

Ryan Calo

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