The Human Rights Institute proudly presents our Fall event series, Legal Machinery of Repression—a series that brings together voices revealing how repression leaves traces of defiance, memory, and testimony that outlive the machinery itself.
This series is co-sponsored by: Columbia Law Students Human Rights Association, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, and the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
Second Event - "They Watched Us”: Surveillance and Fear
We invite you to join us for the second event in the series, featuring voices of activists, artists, and journalists who have paid a heavy price for speaking truth to power.
Before an arrest, there is a trace! This event examines how governments use digital surveillance (spyware, social media profiling, phone tapping, biometric data) to monitor, target, and intimidate those deemed dangerous for defending rights or speaking truth. The discussion will highlight the experience of victims who lived under invisible scrutiny and whose personal data was used to incriminate them. It will explore the legal void around digital rights in repressive contexts, and the role of corporations and foreign governments in exporting surveillance technologies.
Speakers:
- Carrie DeCell, Senior Staff Attorney and Legislative Advisor, Knight Institute, and a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School.
- Siena Anstis, Senior Legal Advisor, Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto.
- Natalia Arno, Founder and President of Free Russia Foundation.
When: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 | 12:10pm - 1:10pm
Where: Columbia Law School | Jerome Greene Hall 107
Lunch will be provided.
Please register below
Event Contact Information:
Human Rights Institute
[email protected]
LOCATION:
