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📝 Page Status: Draft — sourced but not yet reviewed

  • Status: draft
  • Sources: 1
  • Relationships: 2
  • Research debt items: 4

Ben Wizner

Summary

Ben Wizner is ACLU Deputy Legal Director and Director of its Center for Democracy, which encompasses the organization's work on free speech, privacy, immigrants' rights, voting rights, human rights, and national security. He previously directed the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.

Verified Facts

  • The official ACLU biography describes Wizner as Deputy Legal Director and Director of the Center for Democracy.1
  • The Center encompasses ACLU work on free speech, privacy, immigrants' rights, voting rights, human rights, and national security.1
  • He previously directed the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.1
  • In more than two decades at the ACLU, he has litigated cases involving the right to protest, freedom of expression online, government surveillance, airport security policies, targeted killing, and torture.1
  • Since July 2013, he has been the principal legal advisor to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.1
  • He is a graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law and clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit.1

Relevance to Open Source and Software Companies

Wizner's leadership over ACLU technology and speech work makes him relevant when software companies face online expression restrictions, surveillance demands, or national security-related legal threats. His prior direction of the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project connects to CFAA, encryption, and platform speech issues handled by that team.

Relationships

  • PERSON-BEN-WIZNER cites SRC-WIZNER-ACLU.
  • PERSON-BEN-WIZNER affiliated_with ORG-ACLU.

Sources

  1. SRC-WIZNER-ACLU: Ben Wizner ACLU Staff Biography.

Research Debt

  • Document specific litigation Wizner personally handled versus supervised.
  • Add Snowden representation scope and public advocacy record.
  • Corroborate self-reported biography or about-page claims with independent sources (institutional profile, court docket, case page, or reputable journalism).
  • Add primary or secondary sources for major litigation and impact claims (dockets, case pages, official court records, or reputable journalism).

Document metadata

  • Last verified: 2026-07-04

  1. SRC-WIZNER-ACLU — Ben Wizner ACLU Staff Biography. Self-reported profile; corroboration pending. ↩↩↩↩↩↩