Distinguished Lecture on Big Data Law and Policy
The Surveilled Student
Speaker: Danielle Keats Citron, Jefferson Scholars Foundation Schenck Distinguished Professor in Law, University of Virginia School of Law.
Commentator: Fanna Gamal, Assistant Professor of Law UCLA School of Law.
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Student surveillance combines traditional methods like cameras, with modern technology that monitors students' online activities 24/7. While intended to enhance safety, there is little evidence that continuous monitoring of students is anything more than “security theater.” Instead, constant surveillance invades students’ intimate privacy, hindering their personal growth and self-expression, and often leads to disciplinary actions for minor infractions that disproportionately impact students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this lecture, Professor Danielle Citron will share a clear-eyed analysis of the costs and benefits of student surveillance and provide policy recommendations to protect students' privacy and free expression while fostering equal opportunities and democratic engagement.
About the speaker
Danielle Citron is the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Schenck Distinguished Professor of Law and Chapman Professor of Law at UVA, where she writes and teaches about privacy, free expression and civil rights. Her scholarship and advocacy have been recognized nationally and internationally. In 2019, Citron was named a MacArthur Fellow based on her work on cyberstalking and intimate privacy. In 2024, she received the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Privacy Leadership Award and in 2015, the United Kingdom’s Prospect Magazine named her one of the Top 50 World Thinkers. In 2021, she was named the inaugural director of the school’s LawTech Center, which focuses on pressing questions in law and technology. Read More>>
About the commentator
Fanna Gamal’s work examines how the law distributes resources needed for individual and collective well-being. She researches and writes in the areas of law and technology, information privacy law, education law, and critical race theory. In addition to teaching in the law school’s Critical Race Studies program, Gamal directs the Community Lawyering in Education Clinic. She was previously a Binder Fellow at UCLA School of Law, an attorney and clinical supervisor at the East Bay Community Law Center, the recipient of an Equal Justice Works fellowship, and a Fellow at New America. Read More>>