The Ethics of Verification, Identity, and Anonymity on the Internet

The Ethics of Verification, Identity, and Anonymity on the Internet

Please join us on Wednesday, April 14th, for a session of TEC Talks titled "The Ethics of Identification: Verification, Privacy, and Anonymity on the Internet." This session will feature David Magerman, co-founder and managing partner at Differential Ventures and an advocate for internet reform, and Jillian C. York, Director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Join us as we dive into questions around identity and its relationship to mis- and disinformation with our speakers, such as: What is the role of anonymity in misinformation and disinformation? What are the pros and cons of real name identity policies as a solution? What are alternatives to real name policies to combat mis- and disinformation to build a healthier and more inclusive online information ecosystem?

David Magerman

Co-founder and Managing Partner, Differential Ventures

David Magerman is co-founder and managing partner at Differential Ventures. Previously, he spent the entirety of his career at Renaissance Technologies, widely recognized as the world’s most successful quantitative hedge fund management company. After joining Renaissance in its earliest days, he helped found its equities trading group, playing a lead role in designing and building trading, simulation, and estimation software. After a decorated career in quantitative finance, he is now using his data science, software development, and statistical modeling expertise to help startups succeed in the global marketplace. David holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University where his thesis on Natural Language Parsing as Statistical Pattern Recognition was an early and successful attempt to use large-scale data to produce fully-automated syntactic analysis of text. David also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Sciences and Information from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jillian C. York

Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Jillian C. York is a writer and activist whose work examines the impact of technology on our societal and cultural values. Based in Berlin, she is the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the author of the forthcoming book, Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism.

Elizabeth M. Renieris (Moderator)

Professor of the Practice; Founding Director, Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab

Elizabeth M. Renieris is the Founding Director of the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab, the applied research and development arm of the University of Notre Dame’s Technology Ethics Center, where she helps develop and oversee projects to promote human values in technology.

She is also a Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a Practitioner Fellow at Stanford’s Digital Civil Society Lab, and an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

Elizabeth’s work is focused on cross-border data governance, as well as the ethical challenges and human rights implications of digital identity, blockchain, and other new and advanced technologies.

As the Founder & CEO of HACKYLAWYER, a consultancy focused on law and policy engineering, Elizabeth has advised the World Bank, the U.K. Parliament, the European Commission, and a variety of international organizations and NGOs on these subjects. She’s also working on a forthcoming book about the future of data governance through MIT Press.

Elizabeth holds a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics, a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College.

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Featured Speakers: 

  • David Magerman, Differential VC
  • Jillian C. York, Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation

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