Rebecca Williams

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the Summer of Ludd, organized by NYC Off Tech and dedicated to getting people "off big tech, into public space, and re-enchanting each other."

Security engineers use the surprisingly poetic phrase "something you know, something you have, something you are" to describe ways identity is authenticated online.

In June 2026, Cynthia Conti-Cook and I published Digital ID or Democracy?

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Information & Human Rights - Fall 2025 Syllabus INFO 619_ Information and Human Rights - FA2025.pdf 387 KB .a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px;}download-circle This fall, I taught Information and…

In November 2025, I wrote a piece for Tech Policy Press titled Mayor-Elect Mamdani Can Build a Tech Agenda for New York and a Model for the Country about how Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani can translate his campaign’s commitments on housing, labor, and justice

In August 2025, Cynthia Conti-Cook, Pratika Katiyar, and I wrote for User Mag about Who Age Verification Laws Really Benefit & How to Resist.

BURNER PHONE 101 Burner Phone 101 Workshop Presentation BPL RW 8.16.25 BurnerPhone101.pdf 18 MB .a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px;}download-circle In August 2025, I hosted a Burner Phone 101 Wor…

In August 2025, Cynthia Conti-Cook, Sawyeh Esmaili, and I wrote for Convergance Magazine about how Digital IDs Put Health Care Privacy at Risk.

I created three companion resources with Cynthia Conti-Cook for The Surveillance Resistance Lab to support resistance to state-level digital identity (ID) systems.

Acceleration Hydra in progress.

In February 2025, I published an article in Tech Policy Press titled How Congress Can Delete DOGE, drawing on my experience at the White House Office of Management and Budget to explain how budget loopholes and exploited cybersecurity authorities gave rise

Check out my talk, "Digital Identity Crisis: How Digital ID Threatens Democracy, Safety, and Our Humanity—and Just Alternatives" which succinctly describes harms created by historic IDs and new harms created by digital IDs, ways to resist digital IDs, and…

A healthy byproduct of the pandemic is the plethora of classes and workshops available online.

From June 23–30, 2024, I was part of the MidMountain Summer Fellowship in the Blue Ridge Mountains.