EFF has built up a robust focus on digital civil liberties at the U.S.-Mexico border, including challenging the warrantless and suspicionless searches of electronic devices and the massive increase in surveillance infrastructure throughout the region. Our team has gathered firsthand knowledge of local tech concerns through a series of visits to communities on both sides of the border where we interviewed journalists and activists, and mapped and documented the proliferation of border surveillance tools. As a result of this work, EFF has created a traveling exhibit featuring information and photographs from several years of research and advocacy.

Join our panel featuring EFF Senior Staff Attorney Saira Hussain and EFF Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Zhao as they explore digital civil liberties at the U.S.-Mexico border and the work that brought the exhibit to life.

Accessibility

All areas of this space are wheelchair accessible, and the event will take place on the 1st and 2nd floors. There will be cocktail height round tables. Panelists will be using a microphone, so louder volumes are expected.

EFF is committed to improving accessibility for our events. If you need accommodations or have accessibility questions prior to the event, please contact events@eff.org; during the event, please ask any EFF staff for assistance.

Travel 

Internet Archive is a four minute walk from the Geary Blvd & Park Presidio Blvd or California St & Park Presidio Blvd bus stops. Street parking is available, with more on Clement and Park Presidio. Paid parking is available nearby on 9th Avenue between Cleement St and Geary Boulevard.

Event Expectations

EFF is dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, and all participants are encouraged to view our full Event Expectations.

About the Speakers

Saira Hussain
Saira Hussain is a Senior Staff Attorney focusing on litigation at the intersection of racial and immigrant justice, government surveillance, and technology. Among her work at EFF, she has represented U.S. travelers challenging border searches of their smartphones and other electronic devices; protesters for racial justice challenging police's live camera monitoring of their movement; Asian community leaders challenging a utility company and police's dragnet surveillance of customers' energy usage data; immigrant rights advocates challenging  California law enforcement's out-of-state sharing of automated license plate reader data, including with ICE; and academic researchers challenging the California prison system's withholding of race data (to build an AI tool that can detect patterns of bias in parole denial determinations). 

Hannah Zhao
Hannah is a senior staff attorney who focuses on criminal justice, privacy, and cybersecurity issues, and is part of the Coders’ Rights Project. Prior to joining EFF, she represented criminal defendants on appeal in state and federal courts in New York, Illinois, and Missouri, and also worked at the human rights NGO, Human Rights in China. While pursuing her law degree at Washington University in St. Louis, Hannah represented indigent defendants and refugee applicants in Durban, South Africa, and studied international law at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In college, Hannah studied Computer Science and Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.