Matt Cagle
Matt Cagle is a Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, where he works on digital rights issues, including privacy, surveillance, and free speech. Matt’s work seeks to ensure that modern digital systems – be they private platforms or public projects – are publicly debated and implemented with equality and justice in mind.
Matt’s recent work includes a public records investigation that revealed the widespread use of social media surveillance software built on user data directly collected from major social media networks. Because of this advocacy, the networks ended several relationships with surveillance companies and committed to wide-reaching reforms.
At the local level, Matt works with advocates and leaders to end discriminatory and secretive police surveillance. Matt served on an Advisory Committee charged with reviewing a surveillance complex in Oakland and headed the ACLU’s efforts to pass groundbreaking surveillance legislation in Santa Clara County and in Oakland. Matt also works extensively on civil rights and civil liberties issues raised by modern technology companies. Matt led a coalition that pressured Facebook to modify its username policy to protect transgender people and others seeking to use their preferred name on the service. He frequently speaks at conferences including SXSW Interactive, RightsCon, and DEF CON.
Matt has co-authored multiple amicus briefs that highlight the importance of privacy in the digital age. He also advises and collaborates on privacy legislation pending in the California legislature.
Prior to joining the ACLU of Northern California as a Policy Attorney, Matt worked with BlurryEdge Strategies, a small legal practice advising startups on privacy issues. In that role, Matt helped companies implement privacy best practices for websites, connected devices, and mobile apps. Matt also fought government demands for user information on behalf of clients and authored multiple transparency reports. Previously, Matt was a Policy Fellow and Volunteer Attorney with the Northern California affiliate and an extern at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project.
Matt holds a B.A. in Political Science and Latin American Studies with Honors from the University of Arizona and a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was a member editor of the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Matt’s hobbies include running half marathons and playing guitar.