Data, Democracy and Freedom with Travis LeBlanc

At no other time in history has technology and its use of data had the potential to promote or threaten our personal freedoms and democratic rights. Delving into this promise and peril is the focus of the ODPA's dedicated three-part series – ‘Data, Democracy & Freedom’.

The series examines:
• how people’s information can be weaponized to undermine elections and democracy.
• How to preserve civil liberties and strike the right balance between national security/program delivery and upholding privacy rights.
• how technology may be influencing our freedom of thought and expression

This second episode features Travis LeBlanc, a leading US Civil Rights lawyer, former Chief of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Enforcement Bureau under President Obama and current member of the US government’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board member (PCLOB). 

“We are not far off from a world where automated decision-making may be used for more than recommendations for restaurants, but actually may be used to target individuals or communities for law enforcement action or denial of rights. We aren't seeing a massive amount of that today, but it will be a risk area as we as a society begin to rely more upon machines for making decisions about our everyday lives.” (Travis LeBlanc)

At the PCLOB, Travis served from 2019 until he was removed by President Donald Trump in January 2025, only to be reinstated by a federal judge in May 2025, who ruled his removal (and that of his colleague Ed Felten) unlawful.

Travis talks to Bailiwick of Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan about his re-appointment to PCLOB, the greatest challenges to preserving civil liberties and striking the right balance between national security and upholding privacy rights.