Hello, I’m Maritza, and I am a data privacy expert.
As the founding director of the Center for Digital Civil Society at the University of San Diego, I am working to give people the knowledge and agency they need to thrive in a digital world. As a partner at Good Research, I work with a wide range of organizations to tackle tough challenges at the intersection of data privacy, security, and technology.
I’ve spent my career working in tech. I love technology and acknowledge the many benefits it’s had on society. But I’m worried - deeply worried. The downsides have been devastating, and those of us in tech have not done enough good to take care of the bad. Enough. To do more good, I am focusing on our relationship with data. We need to redefine how we think about, use, and care for data. We need to do better and I am calling on others to join me.
To learn more about my work, check out my publications or Data Curious, a new project I'm leading that aims to stoke your curiosity about your relationship with data and how it's used in our world.
I'm proud to contribute my time and expertise to groups that align with my work. I'm a member of the National Academy of Science Forum on Cyber Resilience, The Ethical Tech Project, Data Science Alliance's Responsible Data Science Working Group, and Charlottesville Women in Tech's Membership Committee. I'm also on the Program Committee for USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect 2022.