Adjunct Faculty Member Leslie Harris Named IDAC Acting President

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Adjunct faculty member, Professor Leslie Harris, has been named acting President of the International Digital Accountability Council, replacing the organization’s founder and former President, Quentin Palfrey. Palfrey stepped down in January to serve in the Biden Administration’s Commerce Department. Prof. Harris joins IDAC in the midst of numerous investigations and policy debates regarding COVID19-specific technology, educational technology, and more.

Prof. Harris is an integral member of both the Georgetown community and the wider technology law and policy community. At Georgetown, Prof. Harris is not only a part of the Communication, Culture, & Technology Masters Program, but she is also a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Technology, Law, and Policy and an adjunct faculty member with the Walsh School of Foreign Service.  She is also a Senior Fellow at the Future of Privacy Forum.

Beyond the university, she is widely recognized in the field of Internet and Technology law and policy and has been instrumental in the development and negotiation of landmark legislation. Her work has directly contributed to a more secure, equitable, and accessible digital space. Prof. Harris is the former President and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, an organization dedicated to the “promotion of democratic values by shaping technology policy and architecture, with a focus on the rights of the individual.” During her tenure, Harris hopes to empower IDAC to continue on its mission to restore integrity and accountability in the digital sphere. She stated, “With a growing and increasingly complex landscape of new technologies and platforms collecting sensitive personal data, it’s crucial that app developers be held accountable for their data practices. IDAC brings deep technical and policy knowledge and skills to its role as an independent watchdog and is well-positioned to investigate and identify misconduct and to hold app developers and platforms accountable for illegal or unethical collection and use of consumer data,” Harris said. “I look forward to leading the talented IDAC team and to helping the organization become even more impactful.”