Center for Democracy and Technology

CDT is the abbreviation for the Center for Democracy and Technology. The CDT is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., established in the interest of the public with a view of keeping the Internet innovative, open, and free. It is a civil expertise group specializing in law, policy and technology, which works to improve the privacy in communications technologies by inventing innovative, practical solutions for dealing with the challenges in protecting the liberty of the people and improving freedom of expression over the Internet.

The CDT is committed to building up a consensus among all parties who are interested in securing the future of the Internet and other emerging communications mediums.

History of CDT

The Center for Democracy and Technology has been assisting the United States government in formulating policies related to issues about the Internet for the last 15 years, appealing to such policies as the First Amendment's free speech rights to Fourth Amendment's search and seizure protection, as they relate to ensuring top-level security encryption and providing online privacy for consumers.

Mission of CDT

The CDT is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization established on public interest and is committed toward promoting the democratic potential of the Internet's decentralized nature. The main mission of the CDT is to define, create, and implement policies that will help sustain the openness of the Internet and will keep it free and innovative.

The CDT deals with the following issues:

• Free Expression
• Health Privacy Security and Surveillance
• Digital Copyright
• Global Internet Freedom
• Open Government
• Internet Openness and Standards

Recent Awards

On March 10, 2011, the CDT was awarded the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) 2011 Privacy Leadership Award for their current innovation in online privacy. The IAPP Award is bestowed upon leader in the field of data protection and privacy issues and progressing towards the growth and development of the privacy profession. The IAPP is the world’s largest association in the arena of privacy profession.

CDT and ICANN

Throughout its history, the Center for Democracy and Technology has been critical of ICANN's functions. In an attempt by ICANN to seek input about improving openness and accountability, the CDT stated that ICANN has not taken any efforts and has not progressed in terms of enhancing the transparency of the decision-making processes.

The CDT had also opposed the involvement of ICANN in the ‘Spamhouse’ case, wherein a London-based anti-spam group Spamhaus was sued by an Illinois-based email-marketing company, e360 Insight LLC, in the year 2006. The e360 Insight LLC was keen on involving ICANN to bring about a suspension of Spamhaus’s domain name. The CDT issued a statement mentioning that ICANN was not a party to the case, as does not look after individual web addresses and as such should in no way should be involved in the case.