Nicole Wong, strategic technology advisor, joins WITNESS’ Board of Directors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WITNESS Contact:
Matisse Bustos Hawkes
718.783.2000 ext. 306
Matisse@witness.org

MAY 4, 2015, New York, NY – WITNESS today announced that Nicole Wong has joined its Board of Directors. Wong joins a board of strategic philanthropists, technologists, human rights advocates, filmmakers, journalists and business innovators,chaired by the organization’s co-founder, activist and musician Peter Gabriel.

Wong will play an instrumental role in advising WITNESS on the human rights implications of emerging technologies, issues of visual privacy and how visual data can be used for good.

Wong most recently held the position of Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the United States government. She is currently an advisor to several technology companies on privacy issues and strategic development. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Wong held leadership positions at Twitter and Google. During her time at Google, she helped guide the company through critical acquisitions including YouTube in 2006.

“Ordinary people and human rights defenders around the world use digital platforms to tell important stories, ” said Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, executive director. “Nicole’s expertise will help WITNESS explore the ways we can better protect and support the millions who are using these platforms for advancing rights.”

Before joining Google, Wong was a partner at the firm of Perkins Coie and advised some of Silicon Valley’s early and notable tech companies, including Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Netscape. She has also taught and lectured on the First Amendment, Internet law and policy at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, and University of San Francisco. Wong is a founding columnist for the Christian Science Monitor’s Passcode, a section covering online security and privacy in the digital age. She serves as an advisor to the Harvard Business School Digital Initiative, and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Friends of Global Voices.

Note to editors: Nicole Wong is available for select interviews as is WITNESS Program Director Sam Gregory. To request interviews, contact Matisse Bustos-Hawkes at WITNESS matisse@witness.org or 718.783.2000 ext. 306.

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WITNESS is an international nonprofit dedicated to training and supporting people who are using video in their fight for human rights change. For more than 23 years, WITNESS has partnered with frontline defenders, citizen witnesses, and advocates to increase the safety and effectiveness of their use of video and related technology to document abuse. Based in New York, the organization has worked with people in over 97 countries.

 



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