EPIC - Lillie Coney

Lillie Coney

Lillie Coney is Associate Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research organization in Washington, DC. EPIC was established to focus public attention on civil liberties issues. Ms. Coney joined EPIC in 2004 to head up the organization's voting and privacy project. In 2005, she was named Associate Director.

In 2009, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Ms. Lillie Coney to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Board of Advisors. Ms. Coney's work at EPIC encompasses original research and writing on topics that impact privacy rights and civic participation. In 2004, she contributed the chapter "Mobilize Underrepresented Voters," to the New York Times Bestseller, 50 Ways to Love Your Country. In 2005, she co-authored, along with computing technologists and researchers, the paper, Toward a Privacy Measurement Criterion for Voting Systems. In 2006, Ms. Coney was the organizing force behind the first research conducted in a polling location to measure the usability of optical-scan and touch screen voting systems resulted in the report, Voting Technology, Election Administration, and Voter Performance, published by Stein, Vonnahme, Byrne, and Wallach (2008). In October 2008, EPIC's voting project published E-Deceptive Campaign Practices Report: Internet Technology and Democracy 2.0, the first report to review technology as a tool for online deceptive campaign practices. The report reviewed the potential for abuse of Internet technology in an election context, and made recommendations for steps that could be taken by Election Protection, Election Administrators, and voters to protect the integrity of the upcoming election. In 2009, she coordinated and lead the audit review of the Punchscan Voting Systems use in the November 2009, Takoma Park Municipal election. She has written and spoken extensively on the subject of voting technology and privacy. She has published several law and policy journal articles on elections and voting systems.

Ms. Coney serves in an advisory capacity to Verified Voting, ACCURATE, Voting System Performance Rating, and Open Voting Consortium. She is also a member of the Association for Computing Machinery's Public Policy Committee.

Ms. Coney's work at EPIC includes coalition development and civil rights in the digital information age. She serves as the Coordinator for the Privacy Coalition, an EPIC project. The Privacy Coalition has over 40 organizations and affiliates, representing a broad political spectrum, committed to freedom and privacy rights. She manages monthly meetings of the Privacy Coalition as well as one annual conference held in January of each year. Guest speakers from previous administrations included: Chairs of the Federal Trade Commission, the Civil Liberties Protection Officer for the Office of National Intelligence, and the former Executive Director and Vice Chair of the Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Ms. Coney has coordinated several major Internet Privacy advocacy campaigns; most notable are the "Stop REAL ID Campaign" and the "Stop Digital Strip Searches" efforts.

She has testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Privacy and Cybercrime Enforcement and the House Committee on Homeland Security on the topic of Watchlists. She also testified several times before the Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee on domestic surveillance, CCTV Surveillance, and "Fusion Centers". Ms. Coney has testified before the Election Assistance Commission on the subject of voter registration database privacy, electronic voting system standards development, and developing reliable measures for voting administration and equipment management.

She also provides advice and input on privacy issues related to Cloud Computing and Smart Grid implementation.

Ms. Coney was the former Public Policy Coordinator for the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). The ACM is the largest and oldest organization of computing professionals in the world. Prior to that, Ms. Coney served as special assistant to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) on a variety of issues ranging from energy and information technology policy, election reform, to education policy. Her background includes extensive work in computer systems and technology policy. She has over 18 years of experience working on science and technology issues. She also has worked with civil rights and grassroots organizations on issues of voting and civil rights.

Ms. Coney received a B.A. in Political Science and a Masters in Public Administration from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. She is a former Systems Administrator who has designed and developed web sites for Congressional offices.

Contact Information:

Electronic Privacy Information Center
1718 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009
coney@epic.org
+1 202 483-1140 x 111 (office)
+1 202 483 1248 (fax)

Education

Lamar University Public Administration M.A. 2000; Political Science B.A. 1982
Research Assistant Dr. James True, Jack Brooks Chair in Government and Public Service (1999-2000)

Testimony and Comments to Federal Agencies:

Government 2.0 Workshop: Privacy and Best Practices, Department of Homeland Security June 2, 2009
Smart Grid Comments to National Institute of Standards and Technology, December 2, 2009
House Committee on Homeland Security (September 9, 2008)
Election Commission on New Voting Guidelines (April 24, 2008)
House Judiciary Committee (December 18, 2007)
Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee (September 19, 2007)
Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee (June 7, 2006)
Congressional Oversight of EAC's Enforcement of HAVA (October 4, 2005)
EAC Hearing on New Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (August 23, 2005)
EPIC Comments to the DOJ on Georgia Voting ID Preclearance (July 29, 2005)
EAC Agency Rulemaking on Statewide Centralized Voter Registration (May 25, 2005)
EAC Hearing on Statewide Centralized Voter Registration (April 28, 2005)
EAC Comments on Survey of States on Voter Registration: (March 1, 2005)
FTC Comments on the Children's Online Privacy (February 14, 2005)
NIST Federal Employee IDs (February 14, 2005)
EAC's TGDC on Voter Privacy (September 22, 2004)

Law Review Articles:

A Call for Election Reform, Volume 7, Fall 2005, Journal of Law & Social Challenges
E-Voting: A Tale of Lost Votes, Volume XXIII - Number 3, Spring 2005, The John Marshall Journal of Computer & Information Law

Papers, Reports, and Articles:
"e-Deceptive Campaign Practices Report." EPIC Publication, October 20, 2008
"e-Data Breaches and Privacy Protection Statues: State v. Federal," 2nd Annual ABA Cyber Law Conference, June 18-20, 2008
"Race & Ethnicity Implications on the Right to Vote in Public Elections" [PPT Slides], The Revealed I Conference Ottawa October 27, 2007
Why Audit for Transparency?, [PPT Slides] 2007 Post Election Audit Summit, October 26, 2007
audit.pdfaudits.pdf">Election Reform: Auditing, House Committee on Administration, Submitted Statement, (March 20, 2007)
Statewide Database of Registered Voters, Association for Computer Machinery, USACM (February 2006)
Towards a Privacy Measurement Criterion for Voting Systems (April 2005)
MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country, Chapter, Mobilize Underrepresented Voters (2004)