UVA LawTech Center director writes book on online privacy

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A new book by Danielle Citron centers on the fight for privacy and the access people have to our personal information.

The fight for privacy isn’t just about keeping social media accounts on private, but also web searches and how easy it can be for companies to get those details.

“All of that is being collected, used, exploited, and sold. So we might think, ‘Oh, of course, who’s interested in my searches? No one’s seeing that but the website.’ These tools and services, the promises, they’re good for us. They make our lives easier and better, but they also aren’t protecting our intimate privacy and need to,” Citron said.

She is the director of UVA School of Law’s LawTech Center. She has been researching way to help protect our information since 2007.

“I’ve been studying and thinking about how companies are invading intimate privacy,” Citron said.

She believes that students are the future to help get our privacy protected.

“This is a perfect place to be with some many young people who I know want to help sort of work on this effort. So I’ve talked to undergrads, and students were very interested in volunteering for our organization, The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative,” Citron said.

She believes that change will need to be done at the federal level but can start with students.

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