About

Jan 15 21

Our mission
What we do
Advisors
Partners

CR's Digital Lab is a diverse community solving consumers’ biggest tech challenges.

We are researchers, engineers, and advocates. Join us.

Our mission

Consumer Reports was established in the 1930s, when the gloss of advertising first threatened objective facts. We made it our mission to deliver trusted information — creating an iconic magazine and establishing the world’s biggest independent product testing laboratories.

Among our many accomplishments, CR generated the early science showing the dangers of smoking, helped make seat belts and other car safety features standard, and empowered millions of people to buy right.

The market works best when companies compete to better serve consumers. But in today’s market, we’re not just consumers—we’re “users.” In some ways, we’re the product.

Everyday consumer objects are now “smart,” powered by software that answers to remote interests. Data is used to deceive and discriminate. And a small handful of tech companies—operating as retailers, broadcasters, and information gatekeepers—have unprecedented power to shape the marketplace. In some ways, they are the marketplace.

We know it’s possible to make the market work better. That’s why we started the Digital Lab—to study the challenges consumers face in today’s digital market, and devise solutions.

What we do

Develop new ways to test the privacy and security of connected products
Strengthen consumer privacy and data rights, in law and in practice

Advance proposals to address centralization & gatekeeping that limits consumer choice

Measure and expand access to affordable broadband

Facilitate participatory research studies to uncover emerging digital harms

Advisors

The Digital Lab Advisory Council acts as a steering committee for the Digital Lab. It is comprised of independent technologists, researchers, and advocates.

Craig Newmark

Founder of craigslist - Craig Newmark Philanthropies

Craig Newmark

Founder of craigslist - Craig Newmark Philanthropies

Craig Newmark is a Web pioneer, philanthropist, and leading advocate. Most commonly known for founding the online classified ads service craigslist, Newmark works to support and connect people and drive broad civic engagement.

In 2016, he founded Craig Newmark Philanthropies to advance people and grassroots organizations that are “getting stuff done” in areas that include trustworthy journalism & the information ecosystem, voter protection, women in technology, and veterans & military families. At its core, all of Newmark’s philanthropic work helps to strengthen American democracy by supporting the values that the country aspires to – fairness, opportunity, and respect.

Newmark serves on the board of directors of a number of organizations, including Blue Star Families, the Center for Public Integrity, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, Girls Who Code, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American, Poynter Foundation, Sunlight Foundation, VetsinTech, and Women in Public Service Project. He also serves on the Board of Overseers of the Columbia Journalism Review and on the advisory board of nearly twenty other nonprofit organizations, including DonorsChoose.org, EFF, New America Foundation, Voto Latino, Wikimedia Foundation, and Women Who Tech.

In 1995, Newmark started curating a list of San Francisco arts and technology events, which he personally emailed to friends and colleagues. People were soon calling it ""Craig's List,"" and when Newmark turned it into a company, he monetized it minimally, opting for a business model that prioritized ""doing well by doing good."" Today, more than 5 billion ads have been posted on the site, the vast majority for free. Newmark has not been involved in the day-to-day management of the company since 2000.

Born in Morristown, New Jersey, Newmark earned degrees in computer science from Case Western Reserve University. He lives in San Francisco and New York City and enjoys birdwatching, science fiction, and Dad jokes. Newmark travels the country speaking about the initiatives he supports, and he uses Twitter to further get the word out – and share photos of birds.

Lorrie Cranor

Director, CyLab Security and Privacy Institute - Carnegie Mellon University

Lorrie Cranor

Director, CyLab Security and Privacy Institute - Carnegie Mellon University

Lorrie Faith Cranor is the Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor of the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute and FORE Systems Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. She also directs the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS) and co-directs the MSIT-Privacy Engineering masters program. In 2016 she served as Chief Technologist at the US Federal Trade Commission. She co-founded Wombat Security Technologies, a security awareness training company that was acquired by Proofpoint. She is a fellow of the ACM and IEEE and a member of the ACM CHI Academy.

Helena Leurent

Director General - Consumers International

Helena Leurent

Director General - Consumers International

Helena Leurent is Director General of Consumers International, the membership organisation for 200+ consumer advocacy groups around the world in more than 100 countries. Consumers International works with members and partners to empower consumers, to ensure consumers are treated safely, fairly and honestly worldwide, and to drive change in the marketplace on global consumer issues including digital access and rights, product safety and sustainability.

Prior to joining Consumers International, Helena worked for the World Economic Forum developing global partnerships and programmes with government, business, civil society and academia on issues such as advanced manufacturing, sustainable agriculture and humanitarian assistance. She has worked for Tesco Stores Plc, Unilever, McKinsey & Co and The LEK Partnership. Helena holds an MA from the University of Oxford and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Switzerland with her husband and two children.

Kevin McGovern

Chairman and CEO - McGovern Capital

Kevin McGovern

Chairman and CEO - McGovern Capital

Kevin McGovern is the Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital, a single-family office. Through McGovern Capital and its affiliates, he has co-founded over twenty-five (25) companies, six of which have become world/category leaders, and he has been lead negotiator/principal in over fifteen (15) global joint ventures. McGovern Capital serves as an investment, strategy and licensing participant and advisor to global businesses. McGovern regularly speaks at business, academic and family office conferences in the US, Europe, Middle East, and Asia.

McGovern was a founder of SoBe Beverages, the fastest growing beverage company ever in the US (sold to Pepsi), and McGovern Capital was one of three owners of KX Industries, L.P., the largest manufacturer and worldwide source of carbon water purification filters, having invented and supplied PUR to P&G, the first end-of-tap filter to Brita, and the first refrigerator water filter to Electrolux. He also created the program, supervised and negotiated all licensing of Tristrata’s alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) patents, which technology was incorporated in approximately 40% of all global skin care products, and is/was sold in approximately 80 countries. Mr. McGovern has spent well over the last decade working to provide clean drinking water to people with the worst water contamination issues (including bacteria, viruses, arsenic and lead). He serves/served on many public and private boards including The Sports Authority (Exec. Committee – NYSE, during its growth to the largest sporting goods company in the world). McGovern Capital is also currently involved in several consumer technologies including several innovative food and beverage companies; unique skincare technologies for women of color and CBD; interests in several teams/organizations in e-Sports. It is a principal in a leading drug company obtaining the first FDA approved drug for plaque removal in the human body; and also participates in various impact/environmental opportunities such as clean/filtered water, plastics- to-fuel. and carbon underground agricultural products.

McGovern is actively involved in the medical cannabis industry with numerous companies across the globe. He is Chairman of Israel Plant Sciences which has numerous subsidiaries working on uniform seed breeding for all agricultural purposes and cutting edge drug solutions for intestinal bowel disease (IBD), addiction, and colon cancer. McGovern Capital is an investor in many US, Canadian and other global entities in the cannabis industry and currently in the US serves as Vice Chairman of PTS, a multi-state operator which has various state licenses/dispensaries including Illinois, Michigan, and Massachusetts. McGovern speaks at leading US and global cannabis conferences and events on topics ranging from medical marijuana and market trends to due diligence strategies for getting into the industry. Mr. McGovern is also known for his nanotechnology involvement, serving as co-chairman of Angstrom Publishing LLC, which together with Forbes publishes a global monthly Nanotechnology newsletter currently entitled The Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report. He is a member of the National Board of the Smithsonian (the world’s largest research and museum institution) and is a Trustee Emeritus and a Presidential Councilor (highest honor to alumnus) of Cornell University (having served as the Co-Chairman of the Technology Transfer Committee and Co-Chairman of the Sports Task Force). He was recently appointed to the Cornell University-wide Committee on Research and Innovation. He also teaches a course on “Global Innovation and Commercialization” at the Cornell graduate business school and is/has been a guest lecturer at various academic institutions, including Cornell NY Tech, Stanford (business lecturer and executive programs), MIT, ESCP Europe, NTU in Singapore, and KAUST in Saudi Arabia. He also served as Chairman of Entrepreneurship@Cornell for over seven years. The McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in Life Sciences at Cornell University was recently acclaimed as one of the Top 10 Venture Development Centers in North America. In addition, he established the McGovern Fields at Cornell. Mr. McGovern served on the Board of the US Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai and was appointed (only foreigner) to the Expo’s Post-Development Committee. He is also Vice Chairman of the Silver Shield Foundation, providing assistance to families of policemen and firemen who die in the line of duty in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. He serves on the Board of Point Hope providing global assistance to orphans. Mr. McGovern is a member of the Advisory Council to Consumer Reports, an independent, non-profit member organization and magazine that works side by side with consumers for truth, transparency, and fairness in the marketplace. Mr. McGovern has received numerous awards including the Cornell ""Entrepreneur of the Year"", St. John's University School of Law’s ""Distinguished Alumni Award"" and The East West Institute's ""Global Game Changer Award"". In addition, he received the Pioneer Award from the United Nation’s International Council for Caring Communities, the Luce Foundation honored him as its 2015 Humanitarian of the Year, and he received the 2016 Gold Medal Award from the American Irish Historical Society.

Arvind Narayanan

Associate Professor of Computer Science - Princeton CITP

Arvind Narayanan

Associate Professor of Computer Science - Princeton CITP

Arvind Narayanan is an associate professor of computer science at Princeton. He leads the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project to uncover how companies collect and use our personal information. Narayanan co-created a Massive Open Online Course and textbook on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies which has been used in over 150 courses worldwide. His recent work has shown how machine learning reflects cultural stereotypes, and his doctoral research showed the fundamental limits of de-identification. Narayanan is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), twice recipient of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Award, and thrice recipient of the Privacy Papers for Policy Makers Award.

Aaron Newman

Chairman and Founder - CloudCheckr

Aaron Newman

Chairman and Founder - CloudCheckr

Aaron Newman is a serial entrepreneur who has founded multiple successful startups including BlocWatch, CloudCheckr, Techrigy, DbSecure, and Application Security, Inc. Aaron authored the books Enterprise 2.0, printed by McGraw-Hill, and the Oracle Security Handbook, printed by Oracle Press. He is an acclaimed international speaker on technology topics and has been awarded multiple patents in database security and social media.

Previously, Aaron also held technology positions at Price Waterhouse, Bankers Trust, and as an independent IT consultant. Aaron proudly served in the U.S. Army during the First Gulf War and currently serves as a Trustee of the Strong National Museum of Play, Nazareth College, the Monroe Community College Foundation, and the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

Cathy O'Neil

Data scientist - author of “Weapons of Math Destruction”

Cathy O'Neil

Data scientist - author of “Weapons of Math Destruction”

Cathy O’Neil earned a Ph.D. in math from Harvard, was a postdoc at the MIT math department, and a professor at Barnard College where she published a number of research papers in arithmetic algebraic geometry. She then switched over to the private sector, working as a quant for the hedge fund D.E. Shaw in the middle of the credit crisis, and then for RiskMetrics, a risk software company that assesses risk for the holdings of hedge funds and banks. She left finance in 2011 and started working as a data scientist in the New York start-up scene, building models that predicted people’s purchases and clicks. She wrote Doing Data Science in 2013 and launched the Lede Program in Data Journalism at Columbia in 2014. She is a regular contributor to Bloomberg View and wrote the book Weapons of Math Destruction: how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. She recently founded ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing company.

Sandy Pentland

Professor, Director of Connection Science and Human Dynamics - MIT

Sandy Pentland

Professor, Director of Connection Science and Human Dynamics - MIT

Professor Alex 'Sandy' Pentland directs MIT Connection Science, an MIT-wide initiative, and previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India. He is one of the most-cited computational scientists in the world, and Forbes declared him one of the ""7 most powerful data scientists in the world"" along with Google founders and the Chief Technical Officer of the United States. He is on the Board of the UN Foundations' Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, co-led the World Economic Forum discussion in Davos that led to the EU privacy regulation GDPR, and was central in forging the transparency and accountability mechanisms in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. He has received numerous awards and prizes such as the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review, the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, and the Brandeis Award for work in privacy.

He is a member of advisory boards for the UN Secretary General and the UN Foundation, and previously the American Bar Association, Google, AT&T, and Nissan. He is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded more than a dozen companies including social enterprises such as the Harvard-ODI-MIT DataPop Alliance . He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and leader within the World Economic Forum.

Latanya Sweeney

Professor of Government and Technology in Residence - Harvard University

Latanya Sweeney

Professor of Government and Technology in Residence - Harvard University

Professor of government and technology in residence at Harvard University, Editor-in-Chief of Technology Science, director and founder of the Data Privacy Lab, former Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, Technology and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, Latanya Sweeney has 3 patents, more than 100 academic publications, and her work is explicitly cited in two U.S. regulations, including the U.S. federal medical privacy regulation (known as HIPAA). She is a recipient of the prestigious Louis D. Brandeis Privacy Award, the American Psychiatric Association's Privacy Advocacy Award, an elected fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, and has testified before government bodies worldwide. She earned her PhD in computer science from MIT in 2001, being the first black woman to do so, and her undergraduate degree in computer science from Harvard University. Dr. Sweeney creates and uses technology to assess and solve societal, political and governance problems, and teaches others how to do the same. More information is available at her website, latanyasweeney.org.

Marta Tellado

President and CEO - Consumer Reports

Marta Tellado

President and CEO - Consumer Reports

As the President and CEO of Consumer Reports, Marta L. Tellado leads America’s foremost consumer organization—an independent nonprofit that works side by side with consumers to advance truth, transparency, and fairness in the marketplace. She is known as a transformational leader with a talent for innovation, a passion for public service, and a distinguished portfolio of accomplishments in mission-driven organizations. Since joining CR in the fall of 2014, Tellado has transformed one of America’s most trusted brands and iconic social enterprises, uniting its rigorous research, consumer insights, award-winning journalism, and policy expertise to drive social impact. Under her leadership, CR has evolved from a subscription organization to a 6-million strong membership organization, pioneered the testing of products and apps for privacy and digital security, won the 2018 Webby People’s Voice Award for best magazine website, and launched its first-ever TV shows on NBC and Telemundo—the former of which received a 2018 Parents’ Choice Award. In 2018, Folio Magazine named Tellado one of the year’s ‘Top Women in Media,’ and CR has consistently been recognized with leading industry awards for its journalism, editorial design, and video content in recent years.

Marta came to CR following 25 years of experience that included executive roles in public service, philanthropy, and mission-driven nonprofit management. At the Ford Foundation, she was Vice President for Global Communications and an officer of the board. While there, she led strategic communications and advocacy on a range of issues in the U.S. and around the world, including economic fairness, free and fair access to an open internet, and civil rights. Prior to that, she served as Executive Director of the Domestic Policy Group at the Aspen Institute and as Vice President of the Partnership for Public Service, where she launched the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government and the Service to America awards. She began her career in the consumer advocacy movement working alongside Ralph Nader, and spent many years in public service as a senior advisor to Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey—the state where she was raised following her family’s journey from her birthplace of Havana, Cuba. Marta attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. She currently serves as a trustee on the boards of International Consumer Research & Testing, Consumers International, The Washington Center, and Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Jenny Toomey

International Program Director, Technology & Society - Ford Foundation

Jenny Toomey

International Program Director, Technology & Society - Ford Foundation

Jenny Toomey is the foundation's international program director for Technology and Society. She also works closely with the Office of the President on a number of initiatives in the groundbreaking field of public interest technology. Previously, she led Ford's Internet Freedom team, supporting efforts to preserve the open architecture of the Internet and expand access, transparency, innovation, creativity, and participation.

Jenny is a musician and an advocate for musicians. She co-managed Simple Machines, an independent record label, which produced more than 70 releases. She has also been a composer and performer on 12 CDs and dozens of compilation records and singles and in a musical. After closing down Simple Machines, Jenny worked at the Washington Post as a copywriter. She also wrote music and technology reviews for the Post, the Village Voice, CNET, and music and technology publications.

Her work organizing musicians to support the Federal Communications Commission's low power radio initiative led her to co-found The Machine, an online forum for musicians that focused on the intersection of music and technology. Later, Jenny was instrumental in the formation of the Future of Music Coalition in 2000. As FMC's founding executive director, she testified before both houses of Congress, the FCC, and the US Copyright Office.

Jenny has advocated for the rights of artists and music lovers on five continents and spoken about music and technology at hundreds of institutions and media outlets. She graduated from Georgetown University with an interdisciplinary major in philosophy, English, and women's studies.

Doron Weber

Vice President, Programs - Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Doron Weber

Vice President, Programs - Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Doron Weber is Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a philanthropy making grants in science, technology, and economics. Weber’s signature Sloan program, Public Understanding of Science and Technology, has been a pioneer in bridging the “two cultures” of science and the arts. Weber has helped commission, develop, and produce works that illuminate and humanize science for the lay public. He helped start Radiolab, the Tribeca Film Institute, and the World Science Festival and has supported Emmy-winning television, Peabody-winning radio, Tony-winning plays, and Oscar-winning films. Through his Universal Access to Knowledge program Weber remains the largest funder of Wikipedia and the Digital Public Library of America while developing a major new initiative in consumer privacy through Consumer Reports and other partners.

Weber was educated at Brown University, the Sorbonne, and Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has also been a screenwriter, speechwriter, teacher, tutor, taxi driver, romance novelist, busboy, and boxer. In 2012, Weber published Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir named one of the 50 Notable Works of Non-Fiction by The Washington Post. In 2018 he was awarded the National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.

Danny Weitzner

Founding Director - MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative

Danny Weitzner

Founding Director - MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative

Daniel J. Weitzner is Founding Director of the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative, Principal Research Scientist at CSAIL, and teaches Internet public policy in MIT’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. Weitzner’s research pioneered the development of Accountable Systems to enable computational treatment of legal rules. Weitzner was United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy in the White House. where he led initiatives on privacy, cybersecurity, copyright, and digital trade policies promoting the free flow of information. He was responsible for the Obama Administration’s Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and the OECD Internet Policymaking Principles.

Weitzner has been a leader in Internet public policy from its inception, making fundamental contributions to the successful fight for strong online free expression protection in the United States Supreme Court, and for laws that control government surveillance of email and web browsing data. Weitzner has a law degree from Buffalo Law School, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Swarthmore College. His writings have appeared in Science magazine, the Yale Law Review, Communications of the ACM, the Washington Post, Wired Magazine and Social Research.

Weitzner is a founder of the Center for Democracy and Technology, led the World Wide Web Consortium’s public policy activities, and was Deputy Policy Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, recipient of the International Association of Privacy Professionals Leadership Award (2013), the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award (2016), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.